


The Garden Villa | Alan Rickman

by t_arquette



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Holidays, Love, Lust, Romance, Slow Burn, Slytherin Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:15:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 36,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27783589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_arquette/pseuds/t_arquette
Summary: After Evelyn's wedding tragically falls through, she decides to go on her honeymoon alone in hopes of making the best of a bleak situation.The two-week holiday takes a very different turn when Evelyn meets a certain charming, held back actor on her first day... The solo-vacation quickly turns into a no-strings-attached getaway with an inevitable bitter end.But what happens when the two try to go back to their everyday lives, expecting never to see each other again?
Relationships: Alan Rickman/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 39





	1. A Sour Welcome

"Welcome, Mrs Morley." 

"It's actually _White_." Evelyn pursed her lips forcing a polite smile.

"Pardon?" 

"White. My name is Evelyn White." 

"Of course, forgive me. The booking in the system is still under the name of Evelyn Morley. I'll change that for you right away." The woman proceeded to promptly tap the chunky keyboard as Evelyn sipped on her welcome drink. She took a few steps away from the reception desk to admire the lobby. The beautiful wooden ceiling towered over her as the faint sound of a small waterfall foundation filled the room. There were no doors, only arches which almost paraded the breathtaking view of the sea in the distance. The palm trees moved to the warm wind which Evelyn could occasionally feel on the back of her neck whilst inside the lobby. Evelyn glanced at her bag by the pristine white couches as she noticed more people be welcomed inside. With a small sigh, she swirled the lemongrass ice tea in her cup before taking another sip. Her nose was overpowered by the sweet smell of the frangipanis around her neck which were gently placed on her as soon as she stepped out of her cab. Bali was always somewhere she was desperate to visit, it inevitably made the top choice for her ultimate honeymoon location. 

Now she was here, alone. 

She felt better than she thought she would when she was on the plane... she had assumed that as soon as she would take one step into this five-star hotel she would be overflowing by dread and loneliness but somehow she only felt empty and free.

"Everything is updated, my colleague would be happy to take you to your villa." before Evelyn could reach for the key she felt a presence close behind her.

"Excuse me?" A deep raspy voice could be heard from behind, towering over Evelyn. Both she and the receptionist furrowed their eyebrows at the man's rudeness. Evelyn slowly turned her body to face the man. 

"Sir, I will be happy to help you in just a minute-" 

"Of course, my apologies." The man promptly stepped back with a reassuring smile, his eyes firm but surprisingly warm, Evelyn watched as he calmly stood a few steps behind her. Only managing to steal a quick glance of his face she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, in the pit of her stomach she suddenly felt overwhelming anxiety. Her mind attempted to analyze his face. It was as if she had met him before. Evelyn was broken out of her trance as she felt the strong gaze of the receptionist on her. 

"Here is your key Miss. My colleague would be happy to take you and your luggage to the villa. He will fetch the buggy in just a few minutes. Whilst you wait, here is a map of the grounds... they are quite vast, would you like a small tour before the buggy takes you to your villa?"

"That won't be necessary-" Evelyn smiled, "-I like the mystery. I'm sure ill find everything I need tomorrow, but thank you for your concern." she winked at the receptionist before grabbing her key. Evelyn was always a little playful, back home she was a cut-throat editor and rarely got to display her softer side. An obvious workaholic, she spent hours every day revising book proposals which made it to the top of _Marylebone Publishing_. She never thought she would end up in publishing, let alone in a company as big as 'MP'. Not having gone on vacation in years, she knew she wasn't about to give up her honeymoon... even if she was the only one coming. Grabbing her handbag, she made her way over to the front of the lobby where she sat on a small wooden bench waiting for the buggy to come. Leaning back she promptly shut her eyes enjoying the chirps of the crickets as the sun began to set over Nusa Dua. Crossing her arms over her chest she played with one of the petals from around her neck before she felt a sharp prickling on the back of her head as if someone was watching her. Quickly turning around she caught a quick glimpse of the same man from before. Their eyes briefly met before he turned and walked through an adjacent arch. Evelyn was once more greeted by the now-familiar feeling of aching anxiety. Where could she have met him before? No matter how hard she racked her brain she couldn't understand where she knew the man from. Her mind was foggy it seemed as if he came from one of her dreams. Evelyn continued to mull over the man's face as she sat in the front seat of the buggy. Whilst they drove through the grounds, the man politely gestured towards the direction of the main quad, the breakfast buffet, some of the restaurants and the infinity pool. But Evelyn quickly lost track of his monologue as her mind drifted away towards the voice of the man from reception. She failed to understand why the voice sounded so familiar to her, and yet she couldn't keep her mind off it.

The mysterious yet familiar man quickly left her mind as soon as she found herself standing at the villa. Her eyes quickly scanned the beautifully engraved wooden sign. 

_T_ _he Garden Villa_. 

Clenching her jaw, she hesitantly turned the key inside the door pushing it wide open. Evelyn was oblivious to the mesmerising garden pond filled with small water lilies as she walked down the stoned path leading to another door. As she opened the next door she felt the cold breeze of the air conditioner on her cheeks. The villa was breathtaking. Beautiful engraved brown decor covered the walls, a massive tv faced a soft grey couch within the living area as the vague smell of sandalwood incense filled every corner of the room. Evelyn was completely mesmerised. The decor vaguely echoed the lobby, white lilies and various green plans peaked out of the ceramic vases placed tastefully around the room. The whole villa had dark wood accents, multiple walls were pure glass, showing off the breathtaking view of the sky, palm trees and a private grey stone pool. Utter privacy. Before she could continue to admire the villa and explore the bedroom, her eyes were distracted by a sharp reflection gleaming from the coffee table. A golden bottle of visibly expensive champagne with two glasses was delicately placed on the table. Huffing, she took a few steps towards it. Crossing her arms over her chest and kissing her teeth she stared at the card which was placed between the two glasses. Evelyn tapped her foot as she distracted herself with the colourful fruit basket filled with passion fruits, dragon fruits some bananas, mangosteens and rambutans. Eventually, she reached her slender hand over the basket to pick up the card, her eyes scanned the card, carefully reading over every word:

_Congratulations Mr and Mrs Morley._

_We are happy that you chose your romantic stay with us. Please enjoy the champagne._

_With love, The Ritz-Carlton, Bali._

Lightly twisting the rings on the fingers of her empty hand Evelyn tossed the card into the trash. Taking in a deep breath she kicked off her shoes and dragged her suitcase into the bedroom. Just as she was about to dramatically fall on the bed, she was greeted by another surprise. The king-sized bed was completely covered in red rose petals in the shape of a heart. The towels, placed in the centre, were shaped into two elephants, their trunks meeting into a heart. Evelyn froze in her stance unsure of what to do. Clenching her jaw she focused on her breathing. After a few seconds, she could feel her teeth ache from the amount of pressure she was putting on her molars. Letting go of her suitcase she marched to the living room. Grabbing the trash can, as if on autopilot she swept all the petals into it, making sure to pick up every single reminisce of her relationship off the floor and the bedsheets. After she was done, she took the delicate elephants one by one and with one sharp motion shook them into their original shape. After she was satisfied with this room, she made her way over into the bathroom. It was as if something out of a dream. A large circle bath took up the corner, whilst the shower was outside, shielded from the outside world by endless green. The alluring white stoning of the floor and the walls took her breath away as she began to imagine herself in that massive bath with candles surrounding her or showering as if in a jungle after a hot day in her private pool. She finally felt herself smile again as the anger faded from her body. As she hung the towels on the side of the bath, Evelyn noticed the light outside become a vivid pink. Her feet quickly met with the soft grass outside. She noticed two large Baleneise dragon statues guarding the pool. Guarding her. She was completely and utterly mesmerised by the view of the sky as the sun was about to completely set. Rolling up her trousers she dipped her feet into the pool, placing herself between the two statues. Staring into the eyes of one of the dragons, she wondered what the rest of this trip could possibly have in store for her. She was thankful to herself for being completely comfortable in silence with herself and only her thoughts... otherwise, this trip simply wouldn't have been possible.

When the sun finally set, and the small lanterns around the villa were the only thing that illuminated the ground, Evelyn decided to go inside and finally unpack. Her relaxed state quickly vanished as she saw the bottle once more. Sitting down on the couch she tucked her legs under herself, reached out for the bottle and opened it with a loud pop. Pouring herself a glass, she leaned back, as if waiting for something to happen. Her eyes suddenly wandered towards the trash. Without much thought, she couldn't stop herself from grabbing the trash can, pushing the petals away and reaching elbow-deep inside for the hotel note. _Mr and Mrs Morley_...she glided her thumb over the gold-pressed letters as the font vaguely reminded her of her own wedding invitations. Her fingers didn't want to let go of the card. Finishing the glass of champagne Evelyn finally delicately placed the card back in the trash. Her eyes drifted to the thin tan-line on her ring finger, _maybe the Bali sun will finally conceal that part of my life for good._


	2. The Beach

The sun shone into Evelyn's bedroom as she nestled her face deeper into the mountain of pillows on her king-size bed. slowly opening one eye, she saw the beautiful reflection on the sun on her pristine white sheets. Never in her life before did she have such a full and restful nights sleep. Her lean body was almost engulfed by the soft, weightless sheets as she twisted and turned, finally sitting up. Holding up the covers over her chest she yawned as her eyes drifted across the room, still trying to familiarize herself with her new, but short term, home. 

As the wind tried to playfully lift the hem of her white dress, Evelyn slyly held it down with her hand as she smiled at the waiter who led her to her breakfast table. Ordering a coffee with milk, and some scrambled eggs, she made her way over to the endless buffet, which overflowed with almost a rainbow of fruits and berries. Carefully picking out her favourites, mango and pineapple, she reached for the tongs to grasp the most appealing slice of pineapple. As she reached further into the table, her phone slipped out of her dress pocket, landing onto the marble floor with a loud bang. Thankfully for Evelyn, the buffet was extremely busy therefore no one seemed to notice. As she was about to bend over to pick up her phone, she noticed the man behind her already outstretching his hand with her phone. Muttering a small thank you, she quickly took her phone from the man. As Evelyn tried to look up at the man, a cloud had seemed to shift outside, blinding her with a ray of bright sunlight. Painfully squinting, she tried to make out the features of the man, she heard him mutter a deep 'welcome' and move away from her down the buffet table. Evelyn squinted again, her curiosity getting the best of her as she watched him walk away. Unmistakably, she realized that it was the same man from yesterday at reception. Kissing her teeth, she shoved her phone deeper into her dress pocket as she reached for the pineapple once more. 

Evelyn adjusted her red bikini as she wrapped herself around in a towel. Drying off her hair she shook out the sand, basking in the heat. Even though the sand was scalding her, she absolutely adored the feeling of it. Eyeing up her mojito she dusted off the white towel, carefully placing it on her beach chair. There was plenty of space for the guests of the hotel to enjoy their privacy. The sunchairs with palm umbrellas were placed with metres distance between each other. She noticed a few couples here and there laughing, gossiping or sometimes even feeding each other fruit. Sighing, she placed herself on the luxurious beach chair reaching for her mojito and the thick book she dragged all the way from London. After she was through two tropical mojitos and five chapters of her favourite crime book, she decided that it was time for her to tan. Turning her music on full blast she reclined the beach chair, placing her wide brim straw hat over her face. As she dozed in and out of consciousness she felt her body completely relax. Her legs felt like jelly, as her bikini quickly became dry. Evelyn could still feel the sun burning through her straw hat every time she turned to lay on her back. Getting tired of her playlist she pulled her headphones out deciding to listen to the strong waves of the sea instead. Faint footsteps of other guests could be heard in the distance, as they kicked the sand from side to side. A few kids could be heard behind her, as mothers chased them. Evelyn suddenly became aware of the sound of strong footsteps in front of her sun chair. The footsteps seemed to slow down as they approached her. Suddenly, a shadow was cast over her eyes and hat as the figure seemingly stopped right in front of her. Placing her sunglasses on her eyes from under the hat, Evelylin pulled the hat off, expecting the waiter to offer her another drink. 

"Hello." The man spoke nonchalantly, as Evelyn tried to come back to reality, shaking off her utterly relaxed state. 

"Hello." Evelyn retaliated as her eyes began to focus on the man. The sun cast a dark shadow on the mans face making it once more hard for her to figure out his features. 

"This seems to be the third time we run into each other...' He dragged as she sat up, pushing her hair away from her face. 

"It does indeed." Evelyn smiled softly. She could feel the man's eyes scanning her body slowly, as she reached for her mojito. The man cocked his head to the side, clearly forming a sentence to say, but before he had the time to open his mouth Evelyn quickly pulled the straw out of her mouth. "Do I know you from somewhere?" 

"That depends." The man smirked, now comfortably crossing his arms over his body. Evelyn squinted her eyes a little behind her sunglasses as she also moved her head to the side. suddenly it dawned on her. Her mind as if becoming clear in an instant as her mouth gaped ever so slightly open.

"Alan Rickman?" Evelyn's voice was almost a whisper as she lifted her sunglasses placing them on her hair. 

"Hm." With that small sound, Evelyn was sure of it. The voice, the height, the eyes even the nose, all the dots connected in her mind. Smiling a little she was glad she finally figured out the thing that's been nagging her mind all of yesterday. With a sigh, Alan was quick to look away from Evelyn for the first time as he squinted at the hotel in the distance. Evelyn was somewhat relieved, no longer feeling his strong eyes on her. "First time here?" his monotone voice seemed to send chills down her warm body. His eyes were still fixed on the hotel, as Evelyn leaned forwards, fully sitting up in her chair, leaning over her knees. 

"Yes." 

"I'm surprised to see a woman of your age at this resort."

"A woman of _my age_?" Evelyn gaped with a sarcastic chuckle, beginning to get a little annoyed. 

"I would have expected you to be backpacking through Ubed, whilst staying at some remote hostel." He continued, eyes still fixated on the hotel. His tone seemed serious, but Evelyn could somehow sense the cheekiness, noticing the corner of his lips tug into an almost unnoticeable smile. 

"I'm flattered at your assumptions." Evelyn politely smiled, resting her hands on the sun chair. 

"I hope I didn't offend you in any way." Alan seemed somewhat concerned, but his face showed signs of sarcasm once more as he smirked at her. 

"It was lovely to meet you, Alan." Evelyn wasn't sure where this conversation could possibly go. Frankly, she was a little confused with the current dynamics of the situation. She suddenly felt extremely exposed in her red bikini as he gazed at her once more. Before giving her a polite nod, and walking towards the hotel. Baffled at what just happened, Evelyn was overcome by curiosity, being well aware of who Alan Rickman was, she squinted at the sea, trying to remember every single movie she had seen him in. With her finger between her teeth, she focused, hard. She vividly remembered him in Die Hard, Robin Hood of course, and Sense and Sensibility. She could even admit that she was once an avid fan... her mind spun out more as she focused on his dark features in Robin Hood, suddenly remembering how attracted she was to him in that movie. She was a little mad at herself for not recognizing him sooner. After all, she had just recently watched one of the Harry Potter movies with her nephew at her apartment. Her mind wandered to his voice and demeanour as she continued to remember him in various movies. She started to try to calculate his age in her head, but she quickly lost track as the waiter came up to her asking if she would like another drink. Ordering her last mojito, Evelyn tried to distract herself by mentally picking an outfit for her dinner-for-one tonight. 

As she flicked the wing of her eyeliner, Evelyn admired her face in the mirror. Noticing some minimal lines here and there she smiled. Somehow her mind drifted to Alan's comment: 'A Woman of your Age-". She smiled to herself. She was extremely lucky with her looks, at her sharp age, she was still often mistaken for a post-grad. She was proud to have accomplished as much as she did by then. She had worked for multiple screenwriting companies, assisted on various movies, shifted to publishing and was now an editor as a successful company in London. Swiping on some dark mauve lipstick, she carefully put on her back peep-toe high heels, admiring herself in the mirror once more. The green dress she was wearing made her eyes pop, tightly hugging her small waist, gently cascading down her hips, stopping just a little above the knee. The dress was flowy and perfect for the weather. Her smile quickly faded as she remembered the last time she wore this dress. Her ex-fiances smile flashed in her mind as she proceeded to ignore the dull feeling of dread in her chest. Grabbing her bag, she headed out for dinner. She chose to walk down the somewhat-tropical paved paths towards the seafood restaurant which she had reserved prior to arriving in Bali. 

As Evelyn slowly sipped her neon pink cocktail, she scanned the menu. Picking out some tuna tartar and lobster tagliatelle, she leaned back enjoying the beautiful decor. The restaurant vaguely reminded her of Sexy Fish back in London. The sudden buzz from the phone on her lap caused her to jump a little as she grabbed it. It was a text message from her best friend. Her friend was currently completing her MBA, Evelyn tried to invite her on this trip but the workload was simply too heavy.

_How is everything? You haven't called in a while, you doing okay?_

Yes, everything's fine. You won't believe who I've met at the hotel though...

_Oh god, tell me_

Do you remember when we watched Die Hard last Christmas?

_Yeah, vaguely, why_

Hans Gruber. He's here at the hotel.

_I'm not gonna lie, it took me a minute..._

_but wow, was he nice?_

You could say so...

_Is he as charming off-screen as he is on ;)_

I thought you said you vaguely remember?!

_I remember more than you think x_

_Anyways, I have to get back to work ):_

Of course, you do... I'll try to call you tomorrow x

_Love you x_

Love you more xx 

Emily and Evelyn had been friends for over 20 years. They were inseparable. Emily was the first person who found out about Evelyn's engagement just from Evelyn's eyes. They saw each other as much as they could, both worked in London therefore the only thing which stood in between of them was work. Sighing, Evelyn placed her phone back in her purse as she continued to scan the restaurant. There were a few families around but mostly couples. When her starter came she devoured all of it in minutes, the restaurant was without a doubt a five-star establishment, waiting on her main Evelyn scanned the restaurant once more. At a table only a few metres diagonally away from her own, Evelyn could hear the sharp sound of heels clicking on the floor. A beautiful woman sat down with her back facing Evelyn. Without being able to see her face, Evelyn could see she was wearing a beautiful red strapless dress, her hair cascading down her shoulders almost touching her lower back. Her hair was a beautiful shade of blonde, completely natural, she had a fantastic physique. She couldn't help but stare at the woman for a second longer before seeing a tall man walk up to the table. The woman got up to greet him, the man placed a soft kiss on her cheek before they sat down together, the man directly facing Evelyn. The dim light of the restaurant clouded his features when suddenly, Evelyn became red from staring. It was him. Alan was sitting at the table diagonally in front of her with a - what could only be assumed - absolutely gorgeous woman. Evelyn quickly looked away feeling embarrassed for staring. It didn't help that she could see his face so clearly from how the tables were set up. When her main finally came she was speechless at the taste. She hadn't had a nice meal out in months, so her taste buds might have been a little altered by constant take out, and pan-seared chicken, but non the less the food was delicious. However, no matter how good the food was Evelyn couldn't help her eyes from drifting once more towards Alan. His eyes crinkled a little as he chuckled at whatever the woman was saying, Evelyn caught herself mesmerised by the man. Her eyebrows quickly quirked up as Alan's strong gaze diverted to her. It was only for a second but she knew he saw her. 

"Anything else Mis?" the waiter smiled. 

"Yes, I'll have a scoop of the chocolate ice-cream please." She couldn't help feeling a little childish, but there was no way shd would refuse herself desert. As the waiter swiftly walked away, Evelyn felt a strong gaze on her. She looked up to see Alan staring directly at her. Diverting her eyes she slowly pulled out her phone in an attempt to distract herself. She noticed as Alan quickly waved for the check at the other table. Pretending to not notice, her attention was once more diverted back by the loud squeaking of the woman's chair. Both Alan and the woman got up, he placed another soft kiss on her cheek, a quick hug, and bid her goodbye. It was surprising at how much quicker the goodbye was than the hello. The woman walked towards the lobby exit instead of the hotel grounds. Alan straightened his back, lazily placing his hands in the pockets of his blazer. He bent his neck a little to the side, staring at the woman with a smile. Taking in a breath, he strolled up to Evelyn's table pulling out a chair, and sitting adjacent to her. Evelyn couldn't muster the words from her surprise before he spoke. 

"Dinner for one?" Evelyn simply nodded with a smirk. "Hm." He brooded again. This seemed to be his favourite response to whatever she would do. 

"Did you enjoy your time?" Evelyn tried to make small talk as to not make the situation awkward.

"Indeed I did. And yourself?"

"I did. The food here is incredibly good." Evelyn smiled looking down at her hands. She was never one to feel shy away but somehow his gaze made her feel intimidated.

"There is a wonderful steak-house here. I think you will find it even more _incredible_." He seemed to playfully mock her words as she chuckled, rolling her eyes at the mans straight-forwardness. 

"So, what makes you think you can just sit down at a woman's table with no invitation?" 

"I'm unsure...it might be her eyes or that beautiful green dress." Evelyn was now utterly shocked at how confident he was. She wasn't sure if it was the celebrity status or simply his cocky attitude.

"I'll keep that in mind next time I wear this dress." Evelyn winked, leaning into his game. 

"I never asked you your name?" His deep voice sent shivers down her arms once more. 

"Evelyn," Alan smirked at her leaning back in his chair. 

"Have dinner with me, Evelyn." Scoffing, she furrowed her eyebrows as her mouth gaped a little. Before she could muster up a sentence, the waiter brought her ice cream to the table. After a few seconds of silence, observing his somewhat smug smirk, she squinted her eyes. 

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you want to-" Bringing her hand to her face she observed him for a second, was he serious? She thought. "And I guarantee you a good conversation." He continued. Evelyn thought for a second, but before she could make a solid conclusion her mouth opened without her consent. 

"Alright." 

"Wonderful. Enjoy your ice cream." 


	3. Verbal Contract

"What is that sound?" 

"Oh Christ, ignore that, my fridge broke again" Evelyn could almost hear Emily roll her eyes on the other end of the phone. 

"You have to move, it's becoming ridiculous." Evelyn waved away a mosquito as she continued to look out into the water, the breeze flowing through her hair. 

"I know I know, I'm waiting for this MBA to finish, then hopefully I can finally get that promotion and move to Marylebone, we'd practically be neighbours..." Emily sighed. Evelyn was just about to reply as she noticed the waiter offering her the menu. Smiling, she pointed at the pineapple plate. "So, how's the vacation?" 

"It's good I'm spending a lot of time by myself, enjoying the water and the villa. The food is amazing by the way, we need to come here together one day."

"I hope you're not bored. I wish I could have come with you, I always hated sitting in restaurants alone everyone gives you these strange looks of pity." Emily slammed the door of her fridge shut making Evelyn wince at the sound. 

"Speaking of sitting alone, I wasn't totally on my own last night." Evelyn smirked into her phone. 

"Do tell." Emily spoke quickly. 

"Alan came to say hi at the end of my dinner." 

"Who?" Evelyn rolled her eyes at her friend's memory. 

"The man I told you about, the actor?" Evelyn laughed. 

"Ah yes, sorry. That's great though... You always did have an eye for him." Emily teased. 

"You remember _that_ but not his name?" Evelyn shoved a piece of pineapple in her mouth as a child ran by her with a jellyfish in his net. "-He asked me to dinner."

"Wow, look at you go. You move quickly-"

"Shut up." Both of the girls laughed, the laughter quickly faded as they both felt a little lonely, clearly missing each other. "There's one problem though, he seems extremely cocky."

"When has that been a problem for you?" 

"You're not helping. The last one _did_ end up being a problem if you take into account how much money I lost on those wedding invitations." 

"I have to be honest with you, I'm hearing more remorse about the invitations, flowers, bridesmaids dresses etc rather than the actual man." Emily mused. 

"We don't have time for this conversation right now, so do you think I should go to dinner with him?"

"Bold of you to ask, since I know you've already agreed to it." Emily laughed. 

"Yeah, yeah, but I'm not even sure what I would talk to him about though..." Evelyn dragged.

"You love film, you almost went to film school, studied scoring and editing in some state over that one summer-" Emily chuckled. "I'm sure you'll find something to talk about, you're an intelligent woman and he seems like an intelligent man, plus, if all of it goes to shit, you'll never have to see each other again." 

The two continued to talk for another half an hour or so before it stroke Evelyn how much money she must be spending on this phone call. Bidding each other goodbye, Evelyn decided it was time to head back to her villa and get ready for the night. It had suddenly dawned on her that Alan had not specified a time or place for their meeting. The hotel grounds were enormous and people ate as late as 11 pm. Evelyn sat down at the edge of her bed completely baffled. She started to get a little annoyed quite quickly as her mind begun to flood with invasive thoughts: _Did he just not want to commit to even a simple dinner? Did he just assume I'd say yes and do this for 5 seconds of his satisfaction? Was he just screwing with me?_ Evelyn's train of thought was interrupted by the abrupt sound of the house phone ringing. Blinking for a few seconds she quickly turned her head towards her nightstand, throwing herself across the bed in order to end the obnoxious ringing.

"Yes?" 

"Good evening Evelyn." She heard the familiar almost silk-like voice on the end of the line, for some reason she felt a distantly familiar tingling feeling as if inside her chest, or stomach she couldn't quite place it. 

"Yes, good evening to you too." Evelyn mustered the words ignoring the strange feeling. She furrowed her eyebrows, pondering on how the hell he got her villa number. "How did you find out which villa I'm staying at?" She heard a deep chuckle echo through the phone. 

"Don't worry, I simply asked reception to connect me to you." Somehow him using the words 'me' and 'you' in once sentence made Evelyn weirdly anxious, or was it the same feeling as before? 

"But you don't even know my last name?" 

"It wasn't hard for me to describe you." There was a sudden pause in the conversation, as both of them stayed silent. "Meet me at reception in one hour" He dragged breaking the silence.

"Looking forward to it." She cringed at her own words. _Looking forward to it? What are you, a teenager?_

"As am I." And with that, the dull ringing of the line disconnecting almost hypnotised her. She sat there for a second, analysing his words and her current state. Why was she suddenly nervous? She twisted her long hair around her fingers, squinting her eyes at something and nothing. Dialling up reception she asked for a buggy in exactly one hour. After that conversation was over she still held the phone up to her ear for a few seconds longer, her mind replaying his voice over and over again. Eventually, she slowly put the phone back and got up from her bed. Still utterly confused at how quickly the situation was unfolding. Walking into the bathroom, she carefully placed herself on the sink sitting sideways to do her makeup. Some eyeshadow, concealer here and there, her trademark eyeliner which she made a little more dramatic for the night, and mascara. Evelyn stepped up to her wardrobe scanning her dresses. For the first time since she could remember she couldn't decide what to wear. Her eyes scanned the racks filled with green, blue, red and finally endless black. Black was always her favourite colour to wear, it was something that made her feel comfortable yet sexy. Her eyes kept darting back to her favourite black dress. It was a matte silk dress which stopped a little below her knee, with a slit going up her right leg. The dress had small straps and a square neckline, simple but elegant. She admired herself in the mirror, lightly dragging her hands over some of the small creases. As she put on her thin gold hoops, she realized she wasn't quite satisfied. Squinting her eyes she analyzed herself. Her hair cascaded softly way beyond her shoulders, slightly more wavy than normal due to the humidity, her eyes were their usual piercing green, but something was off. Without thinking about it, Evelyn swiped on bright red lipstick. She knew that if she looked in the mirror a second longer she would regret her choice so she stepped away. Grabbing her wallet, keys and phone she swiftly slid into her heels as she heard the buggy park outside her villa. 

Warm yellow lights lit up the lobby. The palm trees looked mesmerising as Evelyn scanned the lobby for _him_. Her heels were echoing in the open space as she walked towards the desk. Just as she was about to ask the receptionist, she felt a strong piercing gaze burn through the back of her neck. Slowly turning around hse saw Alan sitting on one of the white couches, leaning back, watching her. Watching her every more. Evelyn felt both anxious and strangely alive at that moment. She had forgotten what it was like to have a man look at her this way. She watched as his eyes scanned her body head to toe. 

"Stunning." She heard him breathe as he got up. Evelyn simply nodded with a soft smile. "Shall we?" To Evelyn's surprise, Alan offered her his arm. Linking arms with him she quickly realized that there was no way this 'dinner' would be any kind of innocent. If before she could at least have assumed that things could be friendly in nature, from that small gesture she knew exactly what he wanted, and somehow she didn't mind. As he lead her towards the lily pond outside, she noticed that even with her highest heels, he was still a head taller than her. She was always attracted to tall men and her ex-fiance fit right into that image. As they continued to walk in comfortable silence Evelyn caught herself fidgeting with her long necklace. "Is something bothering you?" She heard him speak. Their eyes met for a split second before he continued looking straight. 

"I haven't quite decided yet." Evelyn smiled. She heard Alan hum in response before she finally saw the lights of the restaurant. Soon enough they were seated at their table. The table was surprisingly secluded. Evelyn watched the way that Alan spoke to the restaurant host and waiters, they were as if familiar with each other. After Alan waited for her to sit down, Evelyn couldn't hold back her question any longer. "Do you come to this resort often?" 

"It's not my first time if that's what you're asking." He smirked at her. _What a vague answer_. "Your accent..." He trailed off. "I can't seem to place it." He mused waving for the waiter to come over to them. Evelyn sighed thinking weather she should divulge in her story or not. 

"I live in London. But I'm not from the U.K. if that is what you're thinking." She decided to keep it short. 

"How fascinating, because I almost assumed that you were... Italian?" 

"Not fully. My father is Italian and my mother is Spanish. However they met in Germany when they were very young, so the only thing Spanish or Italian about me is my hair." Evelyn smiled. 

"Impressive. And I'm assuming Germany is to blame with how punctual and practical you are?" Alan smirked.

"Excuse me?" Evelyn raiser her eyebrow. 

"Forgive me for noticing, but just from the way your documents were organized that morning at reception, and how on-time you were to breakfast and dinner today, I assumed Germany had something to do with it." Evelyn couldn't believe what he was saying. Of course, he was correct, however, she was too gobsmacked to tie together a coherent sentence. 

"You are very observant, it's almost concerning..." she glanced across the restaurant avoiding his gaze. 

"I simply notice the small things." She could feel his eyes on her as she saw the waiter approach. 

"I'll have a glass of champagne, could you please put a dash of Cassis into it? Thank you." Evelyn smiled. Alan ordered a bottle of red wine for the table.

"I like you, Evelyn." He blurted out. Evelyn almost chocked on her drink. 

"We've barely spoken." She raised her eyebrows. 

"Speaking isn't always the most crucial aspect." Evelyn was both intrigued and concerned by the man. She couldn't quite understand his motives. Well, one motive, but not the rest. "And I can tell you like me too." 

"You are extremely certain of yourself. Some would even say cocky." 

"But not you." He smirked. She didn't understand what was happening, it was as if she was under some sort of spell. She was extremely confused, but she simply couldn't look away. After they made their orders, Evelyn caught Alan staring at her once more. Evelyn was an extremely confident woman, but this was new to her. Looking up from her plate, their eyes locked. Neither of them looking away, Evelyn abruptly felt as if she was struck by lightning, her whole body was gravitating towards him, all the feeling she had thought she could never feel again suddenly began to surge through her. She could see the hunger in his eyes, enticing her towards him. Understanding his expression she decided to take matters into her own hands before the first course would touch the table. 

"You want me, am I correct in assuming that?" She was expecting him to sit back, look confused, shocked anything, but instead he just calmly held her gaze. 

"Yes." 

"Then we need to get a few things straight." She shuffled her chair closer to the table, leaning in closer to his face. "How long are you here for?" 

"12 days." 

"I'm here for 10." 

"Are you involved with anyone?" He asked, leaning in across the table, dangerously close to her. 

"No. You?" 

"No." 

"We don't divulge deep into our private lives." She added

"Agreed, and you wear that dress again, but with nothing underneath." 

"Fine. You pay for all the alcohol throughout the duration of this trip." Evelyn smirked at him, Alan's smile widened as he nodded his head, now comfortably leaning back in his chair, this woman seemed to take him by storm. He was impressed by her character and her boldness, almost mesmerised by it. "I need a sign of verbal agreement." Evelyn cocked her head to the side with a smile. 

"Yes, the alcohol is on me, and we agree now to not take this anywhere further than Bali." 

"Deal." 

"Deal." He blinked slowly, pouring her a glass of wine, as she sipped on her champagne. Both of them suddenly felt more comfortable in their own skin, suddenly Evelyn decided to add something else that she felt necessary to her own well being:

"No kissing on the lips." She spoke firmly, staring directly into his eyes. 

After a long sigh and a few head movements, he finally conceded: "Fine." Having laid out all of their conditions and desires, both felt a certain weight lift off their shoulders. After their main course came and both of them had a glass of wine, a conversation finally seemed to start flowing. "Obviously you know that I am an actor, but what is it that you do, if I may ask?

"I work in publishing." She replied before cutting into her steak. She acknowledged Alan's soft nod before conjuring up a question. "And what do you do for outside of acting?" 

"I enjoy reading, and unsurprisingly I also quite enjoy movies." Evelyns interest suddenly perked up. Of course, her interest was constantly peaked as she always had a certain love for cinema, but the fact that he was willing to bring it up, made it easier for her to discuss it. 

"What genre?" 

"I don't believe I have a genre which I prefer but if I had to choose, I would say I enjoy period dramas, certain action, and I have a secret guilty pleasure," Alan smirked at her before eating a bite of his steak. 

"Do tell?" 

"I thoroughly enjoy horror movies." Evelyn tried hard to contain her excitement as she chewed her stake. "Oh, don't try to hide it, love, I'm assuming you enjoy them too?" He chuckled deeply. 

"I love them. I've seen every single one."

"I'm impressed, Evelyn." Somehow every time her name dropped from his lips she felt her insides shiver a little. She was certain that she wanted him, and what made it even better was that she could feel how badly he wanted her. "What was the last horror movie you've watched?"

"28 days later, I thought Cillian Murphy was incredible in it." 

"I couldn't agree more." He smiled. "Cillian loved working on that project, he talks about it to this day..." he casually continued Evelyn's face contorted a little, she almost forgot who she was sitting across from. A million questions bubbled through her mind, she knew she couldn't ask any of them, which made it much worse. "Ask." She heard him speak. 

"What?" 

"I can see that you want to ask me something, don't be afraid, I won't bite." At this point, the warmth inside her was becoming a fire with every word he was saying. She could almost drown in his voice, and the image of him biting her quickly begun to overtake her mind. 

"What was it like, working with Gary Oldman?" Alan laughed in response.

"An actor is sitting across the table from you, and you chose to ask something about another actor?" He spoke sarcastically. 

"There are plenty of things I would like to ask you, but this was simply the first thing that popped into my head..." She winked. 

"Very well, he is incredibly pleasant to work with, and as you know, he did have to play a somewhat difficult character, therefore it was a pleasure to see him divulge so deeply into the role." Alan wiped his mouth with the napkin before taking a sip of his wine. Just as Evelyn was about to ask another question he sternly raised his finger. "My turn." Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Were you ever married?" 

"I thought we decided to not divulge deep into each other's lives?" Evelyn scolded. Alan playfully pursed his lips. 

"I'm not asking for details of your marital affairs, I'm simply looking for a yes or no answer." He pressed. 

"I wasn't, no." She smiled softly. She suddenly caught Alan staring at her ring finger. Looking down, she noticed an ever-so-faint tan line on her finger. Sighing she covered her hand. "Engaged, but never married." She added. 

"Shame." 

"This was actually meant to be our honeymoon." For whatever reason Evelyn couldn't stop herself from speaking. She was half expecting Alan to ignore her comment, or change the subject however she noticed in his eyes that they were begging for more. And for whatever reason, she wanted to tell him more. "Our lives were simply too different. Unfortunately, I had pre-payed the entire vacation and was not about to miss out on this wonderful opportunity." She smiled. Alan noticed the somewhat sad twinkle in her eye and decided not to press the matter any longer. 

"Well then, I am honoured that you're choosing to spend this holiday in my company." Unlike the other comments which he had made previously, Evelyn felt a somewhat serious and sincere tone from him. It was quickly becoming apparent to her that she was indeed going to spend the next 10 days with this man. The rational side of her wanted to protest, however, something in her heart, or soul was deeply enjoying this moment, refusing to let it end. After the main course and dessert were done, Alan paid the bill and offered his arm to her as she got up from the table. The stars were shining above the two, as the distant sound of waves crashing against the cost, and the chirping of crickets filled the air. The palm trees were slowly moving with the breeze as the warm lights of the restaurant softly illuminated the two of them. Just as the two made it past the corner of the restaurant towards the stoned path, Evelyn's entire body overcome with immense need. The need to be closer to him, the need to smell his cologne, the need to feel his breath on her neck. Without thinking, she turned towards him and pulled him closer to her. Within seconds his hands were roaming her body, as he pressed her against a nearby palm tree. His fingertips dragging down her waist towards the curve of her hips as he smelled the sweet scent of her perfume. Evelyn's fingers tangled in his hair, whilst she released a soft moan into his ear. Moving her soft lips towards his neck whilst she felt his fingers dig desperately into her hips, she placed a trail of soft kisses going all the way up his neck to his jaw. Within seconds she heard a deep growl of satisfaction in the back of his throat. The sound was intoxicating to her as she continued to kiss him, softly biting his earlobe, as his head lulled back in satisfaction and his eyes shut Evelyn pulled him closer to herself and whispered:

"I will make it hard to forget me, Alan." She noticed a smirk on his face before he leaned in closer to her, wrapping one of her legs around him.

"And you will never be satisfied with any other man again, Evelyn." 


	4. The stars, the sin, the sex

Evelyn noticed the trail of red lipstick she left on Alan's neck. She felt his arms pull her closer into him. The palm tree was beginning to dig into her back as she lightly pushed him back as to regain the feeling in her spine. Alan stepped back with a visible smirk. 

"Quite the feisty one you are." Evelyn gasped for air as she licked her lips, gently wiping her lipstick from her bottom lip. 

"If you wouldn't mind, I would love to continue this somewhere less sharp." 

"As you wish." Alan gently pulled Evelyn by her arm, quickly walking down the path towards reception. As they walked towards the building, Evelyn could feel Alan's arm continuously slide down towards her ass, after a few attempts he finally gave her a quick pinch which made her yelp. Laughing, they continued to walk towards reception. As soon as they stepped up the staircase, Evelyn knew she wanted this to happen in the comfort of her own villa. She strode to the receptionist to ask for a buggy, Alan hot on her heels. 

"Could we please have a buggy to the garden villa number 7?" Evelyn tried to contain her breathing as Alan stood calmly behind her, his hand gently roaming her body, gliding from her lower back to her ass. 

"Of course Ms. It will be here in just a few minutes." The receptionist gave Evelyn a knowing smirk to which Evelyn softly smiled. She felt her dress beginning to get hitched up as she carefully swatted Alan's hand away. 

"Enough, contain yourself!" She hissed through her gritted teeth with a smile. 

"I'm afraid I can't." Alan smirked, pulling her in closer as they walked towards the front of the hotel, waiting for their ride. The two continued to whisper, barely managing to keep their hands to themselves as they waited. Alan moved closer towards her neck, softly placing kisses all the way down to her collar bones, he heard Evelyn moan under her breath which made him even more determined. Thank god there was no one else around, and barely any light. All Evelyn could hear were the soft words falling from Alan's lips describing everything he would do to her and some faint sounds of the crickets. Eventually, they heard the buggy pull up, quickly pulling themselves together, they smiled at the driver sitting side by side. As the buggy whizzed away, Evelyn felt nothing but excitement as Alan's hand cautiously grazed her thigh. Both of them looked out towards the grounds as if to avoid any further temptations. The drive felt like hours until Evelyn finally saw the familiar lights of her villa. Thanking the driver the two quickly hopped off, dragging each other towards the door. Evelyn fumbled with the keys, as Alan gently pushed her against the door, moving her long hair to the side to give him access to her neck once more. He continued to kiss her, his arm once more pulling at her dress. Evelyn couldn't contain herself any longer as she finally unlocked the door after a few failed attempts, she pulled him in with a smile as he chuckled at her eagerness. 

As soon as the two were inside there was absolutely no turning back. Evelyn didn't even have time to turn on the lights before Alan pulled her bag and keys out of her hands tossing them to the side with a loud sound. Without even catching her breath, Evelyn felt Alan pull her towards him in the dark. He proceeded to slowly kiss down her revealed chest as his arms engulfed her waist. Evelyn could feel him begin to pull down her zipper as she gasped for air. Evelyn reached her hand towards a small table by the couch and quickly flicked the small lamp on. As soon as the lamp lit up the two locked eyes. Both of them desperately eyed each other, gasping for air, Evelyn noticed Alan's hooded eyes practically begging for her. Pulling off his blazer she began to undo his buttons one by one, she was careful not to rip them as her slender fingers worked their way down his torse. Alan was becoming increasingly frustrated by her dress, just as he felt her hands reach for his belt he roughly grabbed her waist and turned her in order for him to see the zip. With a sharp zing, the zip was finally undone. Evelyn turned around dropping her dress on the floor, kicking off' her heels she once more made an attempt to undo his belt, but before she could get any closer Alan pulled her hands away from him. Surprise by his actions Evelyn stared at him, however, Alan simply proceeded to greedily eye her body. His eyes trailed from her black lace bra down to her lacy thong. He softly dragged his fingers down her breasts towards the hem of her thong, which made Evelyn smile. In a complete trans, Evelyn relished in the feeling of his hands without even realizing that he had already snuck his fingers into her thong. Evelyn gasped as she felt him touch her, she was completely lost in the feeling of his hand and his lips on her neck. As her moans became louder Alan quickly stopped, pulling her towards the couch. To his surprised, Evelyn took control and pushed him on the couch, straddling his legs, as his hands reached for her breasts she pushed them away. Alan's eyes glistened as he raised his eyebrows observing her. The dim yellow light illuminated her silhouette as she slid on the floor. Evelyn's hands found their way up Alan's thighs, gently teasing him as his head lulled back onto the couch board. Undoing his belt Evelyn proceeded to gently caress him over his boxers. Alan hissed in pleasure whilst Evelyn smiled to herself, just as she pulled down his boxers, moving closer to him she felt his soft hand on her neck, gently dragging his fingers up into her hair. 

"No." He moaned. Evelyn squinted her eyes confused, waiting for him to elaborate. "I need you _now_." He almost whispered. Evelyn obliged as she climbed back on top of him. As she raised her hips above him she felt her bra becoming undone, quickly she dropped it on the floor, his hands roaming her now naked body. Just as Alan leaned in to kiss her breast she finally lowered herself. She heard him gasp as she continued to swiftly but gently move her body up and down, feeling him hot inside her. The room was filled with her soft moans and his gentle grunts. His hands grasped at her as if wanting her to be closer. Eventually, she obliged, their foreheads softly meeting, as their eyes gently opened. The two shared a look of pure ecstasy before Alan almost forgot about their deal and tried to place his lips on hers, Evelyn sharply moved her neck, turning away from him, hearing him chuckle between grunts. She continued her swift motions, feeling his fingers dig deeper into her hips. For Evelyn, seeing him so desperately want her made her feel pure fire inside her soul. She watched as the man was visibly burning with desire. She slowed down in her movements as if wanting him to beg for more. As soon as he noticed, his head shot up, impatiently staring at her.

"Say my name." She whispered. Alan eyed her body for a second, gently caressing her waist. 

" _Evelyn_." Hearing her name on his lips made her even more impatient as she continued to move. Evelyn was never a selfish lover, she caught a certain high out of seeing how incredibly she could make her partners feel. She decided that it was enough torture for the poor man, as she sped up in her movements. She could hear Alan moan as she continued to move. Soon enough she heard his final breath as his hands once more painfully dug into her waist, stopping in her movements. Evelyn was beginning to regain her breath as she noticed Alan practically fade from this world. His mouth was agape, eyes shut, and his hands slowly fell from her body to the couch. Evelyn placed a soft kiss on Alan's nose before climbing off of him. "Where are you going?" She heard his faint gruff voice, the same voice that sent shivers up her spine every. single. time. 

"I'll be right back." She whispered. Evelyn was on a high of her own. Seeing him moan like that just for her made her feel powerful, ecstatic almost. She went to the bathroom to freshen up before she put on a tank top and some shorts, she never did prefer to sleep naked. She was expecting to see Alan in bed, but when she walked out the bed was empty. Furrowing her eyebrows a thought crossed her mind: _did he fucking leave?_ Folding her arms over her chest she walked out into the living room. To her pleasant surprise, he was still on the couch, now with his boxers on, holding his trousers, looking up to the ceiling of the villa. For a second it looked like he _was_ about to leave, Evelyn decided to push that thought out of her mind as she stared at him. Even though she knew this was simply a 10-day distraction for both, she was not about to feel absolutely used. As he heard her soft footsteps he softly raised his head to look at her. His relaxed expression quickly changed into a soft smile. Evelyn leaned on the doorframe of her bedroom smiling. "Come to bed." She whispered. With a soft nod, Alan finally got up, leaving his trousers on the couch. Evelyn turned around and climbed into her bed, nestling into her soft sheets. She had already shut her eyes when she felt the bed dip on the other end. She could feel the covers move beside her as she shifted her head on the pillow. The movement stopped as the room filled with silence. 

"And what do you think you're doing?" She heard him from the other end. Evelyn couldn't help but smile as she rolled over to face him. She could make out his sharp features in the dark, as she watched him. He gave her a stern look, before nudging, telling her to come closer. Holding back a smile, Evelyn shifted towards him as his arm welcomed her on his chest. Evelyn softly placed her head on him, she felt him move under the covers, shifting his body towards her. "You are incredible." He whispered under his breath. Evelyn nestled her head closer to him in response. After a few seconds of silence, she could hear that his heartbeat was nowhere close to slowing down.

"Are you tired?" She whispered. 

"Not particularly, no." Evelyn pondered for a second, with her finger between her teeth. Suddenly she quickly sat up, her eyes glistening with curiosity, looking down at him as he shifted staring at her. 

"If there was one movie which you would want to re-do what would it be?" Alan scoffed at her question, sitting up next to her. 

"What a question..." He chuckled as she faced him. As he caught a quick glance at her eyes, he simply couldn't deny her a response. "I would have to say I would love to work on Robin Hood again-"

"You're kidding, you were incredible in that role!" Evelyn gushed a little too enthusiastically for her liking. Alan simply laughed. 

"I just think that there was so much more I could have improved on that project, otherwise I simply can't think of anything else." He pondered. Evelyn was satisfied with his response. She nodded trying to think of more questions. 

"Do you enjoy being Severus Snape?" 

"I believe I do a fantastic job at portraying such a complex character, plus Joanne is a treat to work with." Evelyn once more nodded. She was beginning to think she was boring him with all the questions. "Were you ever interested in the art of film beyond just watching?" He suddenly asked her. Evelyn was taken back by his question. She wasn't sure what to respond. 

"Yes...I took a few courses, however, I'm sure you're aware that its completely cut-throat, and I'm happy at my job now." She smiled. 

"Alright, what is your favourite movie then?" 

"You cant ask me that! There's too many-"

"Just say whatever comes to you."

"Kill Bill." Evelyn muttered. Alan gave her a questionable glance before looking up at the ceiling. 

"And what is it you like about it?" 

"The music. I can't get enough of it." Evelyn gazed out into the room with a smile, suddenly she felt a wave of heavy sleep. She felt her eyes become heavier as she leaned on the headboard. Alan asked her a few more questions about some movies and her job. Evelyn made sure not to divulge too deep into her work, as she outlined her main responsibilities. Alan noticed as she stifled a small yawn. Smiling to himself, he opened his arm once more for her to come closer. Evelyn gladly agreed as she shifted towards him. She found herself on his chest again, his fingers softly grazed the revealed skin above her tank top as he told her some story about something ridiculous that happened on set. His voice was so insanely calming that Evelyn couldn't help herself as she felt it being harder and harder to open her eyes. Alan continued talking before he suddenly heard her breathing slow down. Looking down he noticed that she was dead asleep. He suddenly remembered that this must have been the first time in a while since he had slept in the same bed as a woman. More often than not, he would sneak out in the early hours of the morning, leaving behind some thoughtful excuse on the pillow. He was enjoying his time more than he thought with her, and even though he felt somewhat uneasy and his muscles tensed, he knew deep inside that he didn't want to fuck up this momentary escape for either of them. a quick glance at her was all it took for him to make a promise to himself that this would be the one and only exception, making sure in the future to come up with some excuse early enough in the night. 


	5. A Confusing Comfort

Evelyn gently pulled her shorts out of the closet as to not wake Alan. It was merely 8 in the morning after all. She was never someone who quite enjoyed staying in bed too long, even on holiday. She carefully turned away from the bed, clasping her blue bikini as she reached for a flowy white top. Eventually, she was able to make it out of the bedroom. She sighed, deeply, as she walked towards the couch. _It was an absolute mess_. There was a lamp knocked over on the floor, her bra and thong were tossed somewhere on the couch, his shirt crinkled uncomfortably on the carpet. Evelyn cringed to herself as she imagined what the dusty floor could have done to that, most likely, Italian fabric. Glancing behind her, she could see that Alan was still dead asleep. She was just about to grab her phone to get out before she felt the burning sensation to _clean_. With every step, she made towards the door she could as if hear his shirt and her dress begging her for mercy from the floor. Grunting under her breath she swiftly turned, quickly picking up all the clothes, making sure to carefully fold her undergarments and place them next to her suitcase in a wash bag, delicately folding Alan's shirt and trousers, hanging his blazer on a chair nearby. She zipped up her dress and laid it over the armrest of the couch. Finally releasing a long breath she was happy with herself as she shifted the lamp back into place. The sound of Alan stirring in bed made her jolt as she quickly grabbed the keys and her phone, prying the heavy doors open in hopes of a quiet breakfast, making sure to grab her favourite straw hat off the coffee table. 

She wasn't quite sure as to why she didn't want to wake up next to him. Something about the act of sleeping in the same bed together made the whole situation seem a whole lot more intimate than she wanted it to be. She knew herself well enough to understand that that is not what she wanted, and she was quite certain that it was the same for Alan. Evelyn ripped her croissant into tiny bits as she replayed last night in her head. The sex was amazing, no doubt, however, she couldn't quite gather why she felt the way she did last night when she had assumed he was going to leave. Looking back that would have been the perfect ending. She pondered on the matter for a little longer before finally smearing her croissant with butter and taking a bite. With every movement of her jaw, she continued to stare at the gazebos and hammocks outside. _Why did I ask him to come to bed? And more importantly why on earth did he agree to it?_ Evelyn decided there and then that from now on this ' _relationship_ ' would strictly be about sex...sex, distractions and nothing more. She would never say no to another dinner, or any kind of touristic activities but she promised herself that she would never take it past sex, otherwise, she would just overcomplicate things for herself and for him. Evelyn was content with herself as she sipped on her fresh orange juice. As soon as she was done, she carefully re-tied the black ribbon on her hat, softly dragging her fingers over the rough straw. Signing the check with her room number, she decided to head to the beach.

The hotel worker politely laid out a fluffy white towel across the beach chair as Evelyn smiled. She felt a little awkward seeing him do this for her, as she was plenty capable of doing this herself, but he insisted. After ordering some pineapple slices she took off her shorts and top, placed her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose and carefully laid down on the beach chair, basking in the warm sun. She reached her hand towards the table before the horror struck: she forgot her book. Evelyn rolled her eyes, biting on her lip as she analyzed the beach. Eventually, she pulled out her phone and began to read through some of the text she had missed.

_**Board meeting updates regar...** _

_**New cover for the most recent J.A. rele...** _

_**Please refer to this email address for any further questions regar...** _

_**Hi Evie. I'm waiting for your call to hear about th...** _

Evelyn sighed as soon as her eyes landed on her mother's message. She had been avoiding her since the fall-through of her engagement. Her mother was always extremely focused on getting Evelyn married. Her mother was ecstatic when she first heard about the engagement, she seemed almost more excited than Evelyn at one point, which made even more sense later on as no one was as devastated about the breakup as her. Evelyn rolled her eyes, trying to put together a conversation in her head. She knew that her mother would just feel bad for her and pity her for going on this holiday on her own. She would constantly nag her to look for another _suitor_ or to fly back and see her back home as soon as she would touch ground in London. Promising to herself to call her mother later that evening Evelyn continued to look through her messages.

**_The latest edit of Perfume by..._ **

**_Hope you are enjoying your holiday Ms..._ **

**_Evelyn, call me when you can, I need to know how it w..._ **

Evelyns eyes lit up when she finally landed on a text from Emily. Without opening the text she quickly dialled up Emily's number.

 _"What took you so long? Even with the time difference, you should have called me already?"_ Emily tried to sound offended as she laughed. 

"Yeah right, you have other things on your mind, how's Colin?" 

_"He's great, he was lovely enough to take this fridge issue over from me. He finally reached some magician who could fix it quick enough-"_

"I love how you refer to any mechanic or engineer in life as a magician." Evelyn laughed. _  
_

 _"Well you know me, I can't even fix the TV when all it takes is plugging it in and out-"_ She heard Emily shoo her dog away, who was clearly trying to eat something of her lap. 

"Hows Colin's puppy?" 

_"Adorable as always, but a handful. Anyways what happened last night?"_ Evelyn sighed into the phone as she once more recalled the events of last night. 

"Well, we had dinner, then we set some rules for the holiday and then we had sex." Evelyn smirked.

 _"Wonderful. I love it. Yes, Evelyn. Finally."_ Emily sighed. "I've been waiting for this to happen for a few months now-"

"Oh come on, it's only been 2 months since me and-"

_"Yeah yeah, since you and Richard broke up, but still, I would have thought you would have done it already. How was it?"_

"It was great. You know me, I didn't let him do much-"

 _"Dominant much?"_ Emily joked. The girls were always extremely open about their private affairs, sometimes even a little _too_ open, but then again, that is what kept them so close for over two decades. 

"Very funny. You know I'm not a big fan of giving up control. But it was honestly great, I enjoyed it and he seems..."

 _"A touch old?"_

"Experienced." Evelyn corrected her. "Besides, it felt so good at times...honestly I think the thing I loved most was- "

"- When I said your name?" Evelyn paled. Emily squinted pushing the phone closer into her ear. Evelyn felt her breath hitch in her throat. 

_"What...what was that?"_ Evelyn heard Emily's voice through the phone, she simply couldn't reply as she was completely frozen in her place. Slowly turning around she saw Alan leaning on the palm tree umbrella, staring directly at her with a devilish smirk.

"I'm gonna have to call you back..." Evelyn dragged.

"Do continue Evelyn, I wouldn't want to interrupt such a pleasant conversation." Alan smiled as he walked around her beach chair, he carefully placed himself on one just next to hers, observing her. 

_"Yes, please don't let him interrupt, I want to hear the rest-"_ Emily paced her kitchen, almost gleaming with excitement.

"You can hear the rest later, I have to go." Evelyn hissed as the hung up the phone. Evelyn was never as grateful in her life for anything as much as she was for her hat and sunglasses right about now. They were the only thing softening her shocked expression. Her mind rushed with a million anxieties, _how much of that did he hear?_ "How long have you been standing there?" 

"Long enough." He seemed to be beaming as they spoke. Evelyn rolled her eyes before leaning back on her beach chair. Just as she was getting comfortable, she heard the sand shuffling about as Alan moved his beach chair ever so slightly closer to her. "How was your quiet morning?"

"It was lovely." She smiled, still embarrassed. Alan observed her closely, feeling a little bad for embarrassing her.

"There's no need to get so flustered. If it makes you feel better, I only heard the last few words." He was surprised at himself for having to clarify his words, as he was usually always up for some light teasing. 

"That does make me feel a little better, thank you." Evelyn nodded.

"Was that your friend?" He tried to make some sort of conversation as to ease the tension, which could currently be cut with a knife.

"Emily. We've been friends longer than I can remember." 

"What is she like?"

"Hard-working, funny, she brings light into every single room when she walks in, don't know what I would ever do without her." Evelyn caught herself talking a little bit too much as she forced herself to stop. Alan noticed her struggling to speak as he moved closer. 

"You know..." He mused as he placed his hand on her thigh. " -just because we decided not to ' _divulge to deep into our personal lives'_ , doesn't mean we still can't talk-" he sighed. "-what does she do?" 

"She works at a bank. She's currently completing her MBA in London. I barely get to see her, but when I do we talk for hours." Evelyn smiled to herself.

"She seems lovely." Alan looked out towards the sea as he continued to softly caress Evelyns thigh. "Would you like to go for a swim with me?" 

"Why the hell not." Evelyn huffed before getting up and throwing her hat on the beach chair. Alan chuckled at her boldness for a second before following her down the beach. Alan watched as her hips swung with every step, the sand as if making it easier for her to glide across the beach, it was obvious that she belonged there. Alan's eyes slowly scanned her body, eventually shamelessly moving towards her hips and ass, however, sooner rather than later he noticed that he wasn't the only one looking. He caught multiple men gawking at her, some were playing paddle, some were simply laying on the beach, but all eyes seemed to be on her. Evelyn was oblivious to their attention as she walked towards the water. Alan's smirk quickly vanished as his eyes scanned every man who had the decency to stare at her without any kind of remorse. He was becoming agitated quite quickly with every stare he caught. As he felt the water touch his toes he was completely oblivious to Evelyn staring at him. "Everything alright?" She quirked an eyebrow at him, pulling her sunglasses down ever so slightly. 

"Yes." He muttered before following her into the water. Evelyn stopped walking through the water as soon as she was waist-deep. However, for Alan, that wasn't good enough as he kept noticing men staring at her. For whatever reason, he was getting more and more agitated, angry even. "It would be nice if we move further away from the shore, don't you think?" He muttered under his breath.

"Alright." Evelyn smiled a little, confused by his words. When they were way beyond waist-deep, Alan finally felt himself calm down. Evelyn gently floated a little on top of the water as her hair sprawled out around her. 

"You have beautiful hair." 

"Thank you. I think so too." Evelyn smiled back as she proceeded to bask in the soft feeling of seawater around her. "Why are you here?" Evelyn couldn't stop herself from asking. Alan shot her a confused glance waiting for her to clarify. "In Bali, I mean." 

"I've visited once a few years ago and I found the island to be mesmerising, I've been back a few times since." His voice seemed to calm Evelyn once more. She hadn't even realized that she was stressed until she felt her heartbeat slow with every word he spoke. "I would ask you the same question, but I believe I know the answer." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" 

"Well, it is the most obvious choice for a honeymoon, and from how much I know about you, I can assume that you've researched every single option before you finally settled on the most obvious one, trusting its reputation." Alan cocked his head to the side observing her. Evelyn's mouth was slightly agape as she scoffed. 

"I really want to correct you, but unfortunately you are absolutely right." Both of them laughed before Evelyn gently swam a small circle around him. "Do you like London?" 

"I love it. It's a beautiful city, with so much culture to offer. You never get tired of it." 

"I disagree." 

"Amuse me, Evelyn." 

"I think it's too busy. You never get a minutes rest, and it's just constant... constant movement. I seem to always wake up a little more tired with every day." Evelyn sighed. 

"You need to go on vacation more often," he added as Evelyn rolled her eyes once more. "I must say, you do that very often." 

"Do what?" 

"Roll your eyes." 

"I do not..." 

"You just did it again-"

"You couldn't have possibly seen that you're not even looking at me." Evelyn snapped back. Alan slowly turned his head towards her. Something in his eyes made her take in a deep breath. For whatever reason, whenever he looked at her, Evelyn found herself at a shortness of breath, and a little anxious. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. 

"What have you seen in the West End?" 

"Nothing." 

"Nothing?!" 

"I don't have the time." Evelyn whined. 

"That's just a crime in itself. No wonder you dislike London." The two continued to talk about London, Bali, nothing and everything. Alan was staring out into the horizon before he decided to pull Evelyn closer to him. Evelyn tensed a little as this seemed a little too close to her liking at first, however, she found herself quickly relax as she leaned her arms on his shoulders, floating by him gently, looking out towards the few boats they could see on the horizon both of them seemed at peace. Evelyn placed a few light kisses on his neck, both of them vividly remembering the colourful events of last night. There was a comfortable silence between them. Neither of them knew what the other was thinking, especially that it was the same thing. Although the events of last night were still fresh, for some reason both seemed confused. Both promised themselves that they would avoid anything remotely intimate, except for the sex of course. However, this seemed to be the most intimate thing either of them had done in months. Both chose to ignore the somewhat uncomfortable feeling, as they seemed to enjoy each other at that moment a little too much. "Come dancing with me tonight?" He whispered turning his head ever so slightly towards her. Evelyn raised her sunglasses to sit on top of her head and smiled. 

"Okay." 


	6. Late Night Dancing

Evelyn and Alan enjoyed some more time at the beach, eating some fruit and chatting about all things irrelevant like some other actors, music, Spain, Italy and even the book which she was currently reading. The two seemed to enjoy each others company. Their wit matched each other and Alan was constantly surprised at how mature their conversations were despite his assumptions about her age. He even contemplated asking her age a few times but decided it was best not to. Eventually, their conversation seemed to drift towards family, still surface level, but family non the less. 

"What is your mother like?" 

"She eccentric. Loud, very emotional." Evelyn's smile suddenly faded from her face. 

"And you don't seem too happy about that I presume?" 

"I love her. She's wonderful, she dedicated her life to her husband and her children. The only issue is that she badly wants the same things for me..."Evelyn dragged the last word avoiding any sign of emotion. Alan calmly observed her as he continued to eat some watermelon. 

"And your father?" As soon as the question fell from his lips he noticed as Evelyn visibly relaxed. Her smile seemed to become more genuine as she leaned her head back. 

"My dad was incredible. He was an engineer... but secretly he dreamed of being a writer. He loved to read. Every time he went abroad he would bring me back a new book. I still have all of them back in London." Alan fixated on the word 'was' as Evelyn continued. "He and my mum were madly in love. Unfortunately, he died 2 years ago." Although Alan could sense the heaviness in her voice he was still mesmerized by her content smile. "Everyone thinks I took it the hardest, but I could see in both my brother's eyes that they were if not more devastated than me."

"Two brothers?" Alan raised his eyebrows.

"Both younger." Evelyn winked. Alan chuckled imagining what it must have been like for a girl to have two brothers tormenting her every step. "What about you?" Alan proceeded to tell her about his younger brother and some other distant family which he was still close to. Evelyn listened intently with her eyes shut as she laid across the beach chair. Both of them found themselves to be eager to tell each other more. But both held themselves back, this isn't that they agreed to after all. After Alan was finished Evelyn asked a few non-invasive questions before finally deciding to get up. 

"And where is it that you're going?" Alan smirked at her. 

"I have to call my mother... are we meeting for dinner or should I just meet you at the bar?" Evelyn was always very straight to the point. She slid her shorts over her legs enjoying the fact that she could feel Alan hungrily observing her. 

"You won't even let a man ask you to dinner?" Alan quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Very funny." She rolled her eyes. 

"I'll meet you at reception at 8. There's another restaurant by the beach that I believe you might enjoy." Evelyn nodded with a smile as she grabbed her phone and her hat. 

"Sounds lovely." 

Evelyn paced her villa back and forth staring at her phone. She was internally going over every question which her mother might ask. Preparing the answers in advance. She was muttering words over and over to herself tapping her phone on her palm. She had delayed the phone call long enough by now, after taking a nice long shower, folding all her clothes and brushing her hair. When it came to a point where she could no longer find activities for herself to do she knew she had to call. Hesitantly she finally dialled up the number placing herself on the couch, already massaging her temple with her free hand. 

_"Darling!"_

"Hi, mum."

 _"How are you? I haven't heard from you in ages! How's is everything? How's the villa, how's the beach, any cute boys, or should I say men?"_ Evelyn rolled her eyes picking the least problematic questions. 

"The villa is absolutely beautiful, the beach is gorgeous, the island is mesmerising." She found herself repeating Alan's words. 

_"So... come on, anything interesting happening yet?"_

"Mum, not everything is about interest. I'm simply enjoying my time alone. I'm reading a lot, I meditated a little today. I feel calm and at peace and that's what matters." The words calm and at peace were not referring to her meditation but Alan's voice. But she wasn't about to admit that.

 _"Well, have you had any encounters yet?"_ Evelyn paused as last night flashed in her mind. 

"No. Nothing." 

_"Are you lying to me...."_ She could see her mother's mischievous smirk over the phone as she huffed. 

"I'm not. Like I told you, I'm enjoying my time alone. Everyone is wonderful, the water is so blue you could die..." Evelyn smiled.

 _"Well, I'm glad to hear that sweetheart. Have you heard anything from Richard?"_

"No mum, why?" Evelyn was beginning to get annoyed.

_"No reason, just thought maybe he would try to contact you..."_

"And why would you think that? I'm the one that suggested the breakup, why would he contact _me_?" Her voice stern as her eyes began to darken with what seemed like passive anger. 

_"Well, you know how you can be a little rash sometimes...I just thought-"_

"Mum, I don't know how many more times I can say it, but it's done. And more importantly, it's for the best. So I really think you should drop it now."

 _"So assertive, almost aggressive, just like your father. You should be a little more like me dear, and accept love with open arms rather than rationalize it..."_ Evelyn sighed into the phone shutting her eyes. She couldn't take another argument, let alone one where her mother chose to drag her father into it. Evelyn began to bite on her fingers and her rings as her mother continued to pester her, and pester her and pester her. She dug into her fashion sense at one point, the long hours on the job, her lack of risk-taking - _god if she only knew what I've been doing here, she wouldn't be badgering me for my risk-taking_ \- Evelyn thought. As soon as she heard her mother's voice begin to tire down she decided that this would be her exit. 

"Lovely talking to you mum, but I have to go, I have dinner reservations, and I don't like being late." 

_"Well, I should hope it won't matter much since your reservations are for one, I'm sure they'll forgive you if you're a few minutes late."_ keeping her shit together whilst taking hits from her mother was something Evelyn learned from an early age. She had developed a skill in letting go of resentment in seconds. She knew her mother wanted the best for her, the problem was that her best was different from Evelyn's best. Evelyn massaged her temple one last time before choosing to cut the conversation. 

"Alright mum, I really have to go now. I love you, I'll talk to you soon." 

_"Alright sweetheart, I'll see you soon."_ And with that, the conversation was finally over. Evelyn felt a little bad for feeling this way about her mother however she couldn't help it. The woman just knew how to grind the right gears in Evelyn's head to drive her completely insane. Especially when they are separated for long periods of time Evelyn forgets her mother's antics and it becomes 100% harder to communicate. There are plenty of things which she loves doing with her mother, she usually adores spending time with her as long as they're not talking about her love life. 

Zipping up her dress Evelyn seemed to become angrier and angrier as her mother's words resonated with her. She had messed up her eyeliner twice and already smudged her lipstick which was making her less and less patient with every swipe. Tying her hair in a ponytail, she pulled out some strands to frame her face and wiped the lipstick off once more as she grunted at the mirror. She decided to let her lips be as it simply wasn't happening tonight. As she tried to step into her shoes she seemed to slip on the floor and trip over one of her heals catching herself mid-fall leaning on the wall for support. Huffing she placed her fingers on her temples one last time before painfully slowly sliding her feet into each heel. Her navy dress reflected the light from the lamp a little as she stared out into the garden. Every time she vowes to herself not to take her mother's words to heart and every time she fails. It's moments like these where she wishes that her father was still alive to support her ambitions instead of just marriage. Grabbing her purse she finally headed for the door breathing deeply to herself to calm down... she was going dancing after all.

She caught Alan chatting to one of the receptionists when she arrived. The two seemed to exchange some friendly remarks which once more seemed a little strange to Evelyn, however, she paid no mind to it. After he walked towards the opposite archway to wait for her, she crept up behind him, placing a soft kiss on his neck. She heard him softly moan in pleasure which was only audible to her as she continued to place two more kisses on his neck. "You look beautiful as always." He smiled taking her hand in his and placing a kiss on it. 

"What a gentleman, I should have expected this treatment from day one..." She chuckled. Alan rolled his eyes as they proceeded to walk across the lobby. The two spent a lovely dinner together, sharing a lobster, once more talking about nothing important. 

"Were your brothers a handful?" 

"At points, yes, but now we're very close. We don't talk every day or anything like that but I visit Rafael often. He works merely an hour from me, he's an engineer."

"And the other one?" 

"Matteo is in Italy. He's trying to open his own restaurant." Evelyn winked. 

"They seem very different."

"You can't even imagine, they used to fight all the time when they were younger, I was always the one to break them apart. But now they finally understand each other and they're quite close." She smiled.

The two continued their pleasant conversation until the bill finally arrived. Alan led Evelyn back to the bar which was already hot with music and people. People were dancing left and right. Evelyns eyes twinkled as she observed the couples gliding across the floor. There was a live band and a beautiful singer. The whole bar was lit up with small fairy lights covering the ceiling, brights tropical flowers surrounding every corner of the room. Alan led her to a table which already had some drinks waiting for them. Evelyn hungrily eyed the dance floor as the musicians played one Gipsy King's song after another. 

"Come on. I can see that you're dying to dance." Evelyn couldn't help but smile as Alan offered her his arm. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but alas she was just happy to be there. As soon as the two landed on the dance floor before they could even take one step a man came over to them and gently tapped Evelyn on the shoulder.

"May I have this dance?" Evelyn was shocked as she hadn't even taken a step with Alan, she was a little uncomfortable as she looked at Alan for reassurance. He sighed but wasn't about to deny her her freedom. Nodding he smiled at the two taking a few steps back towards the table. Evelyn couldn't feel sorry for longer than a second as she felt the man pull her onto the centre of the dance floor. Evelyn was a fantastic dancer and she knew it. She spent years dancing when she was younger and still goes to Latin night clubs every chance she gets in London. The man astounded her, he seemed to know every step and glide with such precision that for the first time in years Evelyn did not feel like the superior one. The man's arms glided towards Evelyn's waist as he pulled her closer with every step. Twirling her around him, Evelyn finally got into the rhythm with him, however, she simply couldn't get comfortable as she constantly felt Alan stare at her, or was that the only reason? He did not seem angry, or upset but something in his eyes was almost begging her to stop. She kept glancing at him with every twirl as he sipped his whiskey. The mysterious man was trying to pull Evelyn closer and closer to him, as she gently pulled herself back, politely smiling she kept trying to keep her distance. Alan was watching them from a distance with fire in his eyes. Only this morning he witnessed half the beach watching her, now he has to watch her dance with another man. He was surprised with himself as he never felt like this before. He kept politely looking away observing the other dancers but his eyes kept trailing back to her, over, and over again. It was the last straw for him when he noticed the man try to slip his hand down Evelyn's lower back. Evelyn sternly pushed the hand back up after every attempt. Just as Alan was about to politely intervene, the song had finished. The man nodded at Evelyn and was just about to offer his hand again when he noticed Alan sternly stare at him. The man scrambled as Evelyn turned around. 

"Oh thank god, I thought he'd never let go of me." She chuckled as she massaged the side of the waist where the man tightly held her in place. 

"You're an impressive dancer, Evelyn." He smiled, the tingles of anger slowly fading within him as he looking into her eyes. 

"I apologise for leaving you stranded," She finally admitted. There was no reason for her to apologize but she felt like it was the right thing to do. 

"No need," Alan muttered as he placed his palm on her waist. As soon as Evelyn felt the warmth of his hand on her waist something overtook her. Alan lead her to the music as she finally sunk deep into every beat. His hands were softly leading her as she spun around him, her body overcome with the music. It was tango. Alan and Evelyn were perfectly in time with each other as they continued to take steps to the fast rhythm of the music. As the music became more intense, Alan softly glided his hands across Evelyns body, spinning her so her back faced him as he pulled her in close. Still dancing, he placed a kiss on her neck quickly spinning her back out. Evelyn was lost in the music and pleasure as she smiled. With every swing of the music, Evelyn would spin closer and closer to him. Both were beginning to burn with desire as they stared deep into each other's eyes. With one final spin, Alan dipped Evelyn close to the floor as she smirked at him. The two were lost in a trance within the eyes of each other as Alan raised Evelyn back up. They stared at each other for a second longer before they heard the ovation which was directed towards the band. Evelyn snapped back to reality as she proceeded to clap, as did Alan. The two shared one final look of desire before Alan roughly pulled her in closer. Alan could hear Evelyn's deep breaths as she fixed her hair. "I see you've finally relaxed." He smiled to himself as he lead her back to the table. She hummed in response, confused. "You have been tense all evening..." Alan gave her an opening to proceed to talk however she simply sipped her drink. "Talk to me."

"The phone call was less than pleasant." Although Alan could see that she was smiling he saw a twinkle of disappointment in her eyes. He pulled her in closer by the hip as she leaned on him lightly, still holding tight onto her drink. 

"Well, I hope that I raised your spirits somehow." He smiled softly placing a quick kiss on her cheek, edging almost too close to her lips. Alan's hand was gently caressing her hip up and down. When suddenly he failed to feel something which he was expecting to feel. He stopped in his motion for a second before pressing a little harder as he continued to glide his hand.

"If you're looking for my thong, you won't find anything there," Evelyn whispered. Alan paled a little as he continued to gently caress her. 

"That is a very dangerous game, considering you knew we were going dancing tonight."

"What's life without a little risk," Evelyn whispered into his ear, biting ever so gently on his earlobe. Alan melted into her words as he tried to pull her in tighter. 

"Come." His patience was running thin, after watching her dance with another man and seeing her glide so flawlessly across the dance floor he wanted, needed to touch her. He pulled her towards the exit as they waited for a buggy. 

Alan's villa was twice the size of Evelyn's. This time for some reason the two weren't in such a hurry to get back. They chatted a little before Alan showed her around. Evelyn was mesmerized by the sheer size of the master bedroom. She took in her surroundings before she caught Alan staring at her. Without saying a single word he walked up to her pulling her by her arm towards the bed. He pulled her down to sit next to him as his hands found their way to her hair. He pulled out her ponytail gently ranking his hands through her hair as she sighed in pleasure. Kissing her neck, as that was the only place he could kiss her, he softly pulled her in closer to him. Evelyn began the meticulous task of unbuttoning his shirt as he unzipped her dress from the side, which seemed to be much easier than the one before. Just as Evelyn was beginning to sink into the pleasurable feeling of his lips his phone rang. Alan ignored it as Evelyn reached towards the nightstand to give it to him. 

"Leave it." He spoke sternly. Evelyn was taken back by his words but obliged. Just as they continued to undress the phone rang again. Evelyn was beginning to feel uneasy as she tried to reach for it again. "It's not important." He pulled her arm away from the nightstand as he continued to peel the dress of her body. Finally, the phone stopped ringing. The two found themselves laying on top of the bed caressing each other gently as Alan proceeded to whisper sweet nothings into her ear. Evelyn was fully under his control. But as soon as she realized it, she had the urgent need to regain it. She pushed herself up from the bed straddling him as she began to kiss down his chest. "I seem to keep finding myself under you." He whispered, attempting to softly pull her down towards him. Evelyn grabbed him by his wrists and pushed them down, continuing to kiss him. 

"Enjoy it while it lasts." 


	7. Desperate Phone Calls

Evelyn stilled as she felt Alan stir next to her. His arm was lazily placed across her body as she stared a the pristine bathroom door. She was so warm, so comfortable, so calm but for the life of her, she couldn't sleep. She could feel his body close to hers, as his chest rose and fell with deep tired breaths. She softly trailed his fingers with hers as she tried to dive deeper into the anxiety she was feeling. She went over the promise she made to herself to not sleep in the same bed as him, yet here she was. Betraying her own wishes. She wanted so badly to be able to comfortably lean into him and fall asleep but something was holding her back. Squinting at the clock in the distance her eyes shot wide open as she realized that it was 4 in the fucking morning. Huffing a little she tried to close her eyes once more...another failed attempt. Quickly going over the pro's and con's in her head she decided that the best thing to do would be for her to leave. _That is what both of us wanted_ , she reassured herself. She waited a few seconds to make sure Alan was dead asleep before carefully lifting his strong arm from her body. Slowly but surely she shifted from underneath him carefully placing his arm back. She stood over the bed for a second longer in case he would wake up but he seemed to be out cold. Jealous of his peaceful state, she took her clothes from the floor and tiptoed into the living room. Right as she was about to leave a bright light lit up the bedroom. Glancing back she noticed that Alan's phone seemed to be ringing on silent, no vibration thank god. She fought her curiosity as she turned back to the doorway, but when the light lit up again she couldn't help it as she took one step back to see who was so eager to contact him.

**7 Missed Calls from** **Juli** **...**

_Of course, it's from a woman_. Evelyn didn't pay much thought to it as she tiptoed her way out of the master bedroom. It had suddenly dawned on her that there was no way she could walk back to her villa, it would take forever and she couldn't imagine walking down those stone paths in her heels. Rolling her eyes as she slowly zipped her dress, she walked over to the phone dialling up reception. She had a fairly awkward whisper conversation with the receptionist after asking her for a buggy, but pleading her to make sure the buggy stops just a few metres away from the front doors, not to wake Alan. After she put the phone down she decided to finally leave. As Evelyn crept outside, she had failed to feel Alan's tired eyes fixate on her. He had woken up and watched her leave through the crack of the bedroom door. For a reason unknown to him he went back to bed a little more disappointed than he had anticipated.

Evelyn woke up to the loud ring of her alarm. She was destroyed. Her body hated her. She was so tired that it took her forever just to be able to read the time on her phone. Seconds later the villa phone rang, just as she reached for it she remembered that she had booked a tour to visit the Jagatnatha Temple. Grunting she picked up the phone, she hummed in response to everything the receptionist said as she forced herself to get off the bed. She took a lightning-quick shower and changed practically running out her door.

Alan woke up in his bed hours after Evelyn had already left the hotel grounds. He sat up in his bed contemplating the events of last night. He pleasantly replayed Evelyn's moans in his head as he finally got out of bed, however, he didn't quite feel happy. Standing in his shower, he kept trying to dice his thoughts to understand why he was feeling a certain emptiness inside him. Everything seemed to lead to the fact that he had woken up alone in his bed without her. He refused to believe that that was what has been bothering him as he got dressed. In the back of his mind he had hoped to see Evelyn at breakfast, but alas he didn't find her. Later on in the day, he decided to take a stroll across the grounds to enjoy the weather, or to bump into her, he wasn't quite sure. Nonetheless, hours went by and he didn't see her anywhere, the lobby, the beach, even the pool. It suddenly struck him that he didn't even have her phone number. But why did he care? Finding a nice spot on the grounds he looked through his phone.

**11 Missed Calls from** **Julia** **.**

Rolling his eyes he shoved his phone into the pocket of his linen trousers as he pulled out his book failing to focus on it as his mind kept drifting away to Evelyn.

Evelyn was so exhausted from walking that her knees were buckling in from under her. She passed out on the bus back before the driver had to call for her to step off. Embarrassed, she politely smiled at she hopped of the hot bus. Dragging her feet towards reception, the receptionist noticed her eyes as she already waved for the buggy to come around. Evelyn kept imagining the softness of her couch and the TV in the room as she got whizzed away towards her villa. The temple was absolutely breathtaking however she couldn't focus on that, all she could focus on was room service and her cotton shorts. As the door shut behind her she sighed falling onto her couch, she threw off her shoes and fell onto the soft decorative pillows. She decided to make the best of the evening as she forced herself to get up and light a few incense around the room. Quickly changing into her shorts, she felt almost guilty for taking her holiday for granted as she noticed the water from the pool reflect into the room. Clenching her jaw she decided to dip her feet into the pool just like her first day to at least take advantage of the warm water. Wincing at the pain in her muscles she finally sat at the edge of the pool finding herself staring at the dragon statue once more. She dragged her finger over the sharp stone as she watched the sunset from behind the garden.

Alan was sitting at the bar chewing on some peanuts as he looked through his phone, something inside him was hoping to see Evelyn there. He had convinced himself that he simply came back out for some drinks, however, it had been an hour and he was yet to order a drink. After a few more minutes of disappointment, he finally admitted to himself that he wanted to see her, whether it was for the sex or for the conversation, he decided to pay her a visit at her villa. He rang the doorbell waiting patiently for her to open.

Evelyn jolted from the sound as she didn't even realize that she was falling asleep. Pulling her legs out of the water she rushed to the door. To her surprise, she saw Alan, with his hands casually placed in the pockets of his blazer, a lazy smile on his face, brows furrowed.

"Couldn't live a day without me?" She teased, he playfully scoffed as she led him inside.

"You left in such a hurry during the night that you forgot this." He held out a small bracelet which he found on the floor of the living room. Evelyn stilled, she truly thought she had managed to sneak out.

"Thank you... I thought that would have been for the best." She offered him a smile as he simply sighed.

"How was your day?"

"Exhausting, I walked 15 kilometres non-stop, my legs are killing me." She breathed. She proceeded to tell him about the temple that she saw and the nice tour guide that was ever-so understanding of her constant yawning. Alan chuckled at her story as he sat on her couch, taking off his blazer. As soon as Evelyn placed herself by him she noticed that he too seemed tired. He laid his head back on the couch board as his hand gravitated towards her. He began softly caressing her thigh but before his fingers could get any further up Evelyn politely stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm not sure exactly the reason as to why you came here tonight, but I have to warn you that there is no way I am capable of doing anything fun tonight..." Evelyn sighed eyeing him from the side. Alan looked offended as he pulled his arm back, for a second Evelyn was terrified that he was just going to get up and leave, not particularly sure why she cared. 

"You think that the only reason I've been spending so much time with you is due to your hypnotizing moans?" Evelyn smirked, satisfied with his response. "We can still enjoy each other's company." He dragged as he placed his palm back on her gently massaging her thigh. He heard her gasp from the other side of the couch, a different gasp than he was used to. His eyes quickly darted towards her as he watched her softly squirm under his palm. Without a second thought, he leaned over and grabbed her legs pulling them up onto the couch, gently placing them on his lap. 

"What are you doing?" 

"Relax." His voice automatically had that effect on her either way. She finally slowly untensed and stretched out across the couch. Leaning back she rubbed her temples still going over her mother's words somehow before she felt Alan gently behind to caress her legs. Eventually, his hands found their way to her slender feet as she massaged them. Massaging her calves, caressing her legs all over as she moaned in pleasure. Soon enough, she felt all the tension ease out of her body, whilst Alan continued, taking small glances at her to make sure he wasn't hurting her. "Tell me something." 

"What would you like to hear?" She raised her head, watching his hands move, hypnotizing her. 

"Anything." 

"I don't believe that anyone is ever fully content...or truly happy." Alan stifled a laugh.

"Truth be told, I expected anything but that to come out of your mouth." 

"You said anything, so here you go."

"I believe happiness is relative. You need to understand what it is that makes you happy and do more of it, and eventually, you'll find a balance." 

"But do you think anyone has actually found that balance?" The two proceeded to ponder on happiness for a little longer, both debating back and forth before they finally tired out. Evelyn leaned back still enjoying Alan's hands on her, he didn't stop for a second throughout the whole conversation. The pleasant silence was interrupted by Alan's phone ringing. He pulled the phone out of his pocket scanning it, he quickly shoved it back before hearing Evelyn sigh. "Just pick up the phone, the poor girl is probably suffering..." Evelyn whined. 

"Has anyone ever told you that looking through things that do not belong to you is rude, or meddling for that matter?" 

"I couldn't help it, I'm sorry." Evelyn started at the ceiling with an embarrassed smile. Within a mere second, the phone rang again. Alan stared at Evelyn for what seemed like some sort of approval. Evelyn nudged her head to the side and waved her hand getting annoyed at the sound. Alan sighed before removing her legs from him and finally getting up to take the phone call. He left the room, gently shutting the bedroom door behind him. Evelyn heard as the door unclicked, she looked back to see a crack between the frame and the door. She sat up on the couch pulling her legs under her. The conversation went on for a while as Evelyn reached for her book out of boredom. She couldn't focus on the words as she began to hear Alan's voice through the door. She heard him raise his tone a few times, as she began to get concerned. Glancing consistently at the door she proceeded to get more and more concerned, she couldn't quite make out the words from behind the door but she was sure that the conversation was getting heated. Finally, his voice died down. Looking at the door one last time, she suddenly saw it fling open. She couldn't look away as she saw Alan, his eyes now much more tired than before, a somewhat angry expression on his face. Noticing that he was tensing his jaw, she put her book down, crossing her arms over her chest. He slowly took a few steps towards the couch, placing his palm on her shoulder, squeezing it gently he looked out towards the main door.

"I..." He paused as Evelyn waited. "-I have some matters that need to be attended to." Evelyn didn't know whether she should ask or not, but she couldn't hold her tongue back. 

"Work-related?" Alan paused hesitating for a second. 

"Yes." He nodded still looking at the main door. _He's lying_ , Evelyn thought. However, she knew she shouldn't care as either way as in a few days she would never see the man again. 

"Go." Evelyn smiled. Alan squeezed her shoulder one last time before swiftly exiting through the main door. Evelyn sighed pushing the different theories out of her mind as she got up, deciding to take a dip in the pool. Determined to take her mind of the man who had managed to confuse her thoughts more and more with every single day. 


	8. The Music of the Street

Holidays end as quickly as they begin. There is not one person on earth who could ever say that they ever grew tired of being on holiday. Without even realizing, Evelyn was on her last two days. She hadn't seen Alan since her trip to the temple, the past few days as that had been so full of excitement, new places and incredible food. She had completely planned out every day to be a new and exciting adventure, as she didn't know when her next holiday would be... She visited the monkey forest, Ulun Danu, the Tanah Lot Temple, and even enjoyed some nightlife in Kuta. Obviously not to the full extent as she was completely alone and didn't want to get into anything _too_ lively. She was exhausted from all the colourful activities but somehow, she wanted more, maybe because somewhere deep inside she felt a certain mild longing for Alan. Evelyn was just stepping off the bus at reception after a long and tiring visit to a treetop adventure park, a little lightheaded from all the heat. Wiping her forehead from the heat, she felt her baby hair stick to her forehead Feeling absolutely disgusting as she fanned herself with her hand, she walked up to reception to ask for a buggy to her villa as she was in a dire need of a cold shower. Just before she could make it to the reception desk her phone buzzed with a dreadful text message.

**Hi Evelyn, hope you're having a lovely holiday, we're so excited to have you back in a few days, would you like me to prepare...**

Evelyn huffed as she noticed the date on her phone, she only had two nights left before she was to depart from this island. Her mind wandered whether she would see Alan one last time before leaving... she even contemplated calling him for a few seconds before realizing that she was being ridiculous. Even though a small part of her wanted to see him, she had a touch too much pride to call him herself. Holding her cap between her teeth she retired her hair as she shoved her phone back into her pocket. Being the second person in line to talk to the receptionist she leaned on one of her legs impatiently as she continued to fan herself.

" _Look at you!_ " She heard the familiar deep voice from behind her. Freezing in her place she once more remembered her appearance before finaly turning her body.

"Hello there." She smiled, the adrenalin from all the activity still flowing through her bloodstream. Alan scanned her sweaty body as he couldn't help but chuckle. Her defined calves glistened from the sweat on her tanned skin, her tank top was sticking to her skin as she folded her cap into her bright yellow backpack.

"Well, you look great." Alan smirked as he walked up to her.

"Thank you, I think this might be my best look..." She winked playfully as she did a little turn in her step which caused Alan to release a deep chuckle once more.

"Where were you the last few days?" Alan couldn't help but ask, already scolding himself for seeming a tad too eager.

"If you must know, the jungle..." Alan raised his eyebrow folding his hands over his chest. "-come off it, it's not like I've heard anything from _you_ in the past few days." she smiled.

"I've called your villa, but I assumed you were out." Evelyn suddenly felt a little guilty for throwing that at him since he didn't even have her personal number. Wiping her forehead once more she stood in the lobby unsure of what to say, hoping for him to say something instead, and thank god he did. "Are you free this evening?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful. I know an art market close by that I think you might enjoy. There's also some good food." Alan was about to turn around before his mouth opened a little gesturing towards her. "But not like this..." He winked referring to her current state. Evelyn scoffed before jokingly pulling her hair out of the tight ponytail and letting it fall down her shoulders, still an utter sweaty mess.

"Better?" She smirked back. Alan rolled his eyes at her painfully slowly before a small smile appeared on his lips.

"I'll meet you at 6." He huffed pursing his lips with a cheeky look before turning towards the archway and walking towards the lilypond. Pushing her hair to the side Evelyn suddenly felt mild anxiety inside her chest. It seemed somewhat pleasant however almost completely unknown to her. Memories started to flood her mind as she remembered numerous first dates from her past, the first time she met her fiancée, and the first time she went on a rollercoaster, the feelings which she had assumed were long gone, if not forever gone. Feeling herself get excited for the small things such as what outfit she would wear tonight, or how she'd do her hair made her smile as she had completely forgotten what it was like to get ready for a date which she seemed genuinely excited for.

Drying her hair with a fluffy towel Evelyn exhaled a tense breath as she finally felt clean and refreshed. Feeling a familiar tingle in her thighs and calves from her the tree climbing today she truly felt like a new person. Her skin was soft and clean, her hair was hydrated, her muscles ached from some sport and her eyes seemed to glisten with excitement. Even though she knew she only had two days left, at that moment she was truly grateful for the decision to take this holiday as she felt like she was slowly losing herself in grey-old London.

Evelyn tied her wrap dress around her waist as she placed sunglasses on top of her head, holding her thick hair back. Unzipping her makeup bag, she stared at the mirror feeling lazy. Her body was still so relaxed from the shower and as she imagined herself taking this makeup off later in the night, she zipped the bag back up and shoved it into a cupboard.

Alan was patiently waiting at the lily pond. Checking his watch, he was growing a little concerned as it was already 15 minutes past six. Form what he knew about Evelyn she was never late. He started to think if she had either fallen asleep or simply left a message at his villa cancelling. His intrusive thoughts were interrupted as he heard quick footsteps behind him, before he could turn around, he felt a hand on his arm.

"So sorry, lost track of time..." She breathed as she pushed her sunglasses back looking out towards the gardens.

"You're not wearing makeup."

"And you're overly observant, I would even say a tad crude sometimes. " Evelyn scoffed as her mind raced with how bad she must have looked that he noticed. Alan once more repeated his oh-so prolonged eyeroll before pulling her towards him by the waist.

"You judge me too harshly, Evelyn. I was simply going to offer you a complement, which you now have _lost_." He smirked as he led her to the cab. Evelyn felt a little embarrassed, jumping to conclusions so quickly but it was too late.

The cab ride was barely 20 minutes long. Throughout those 20 minutes the two sat in comfortable silence, before Alan couldn’t hold himself back and placed his hand firmly on her thigh, playing with the soft hem of her dress. Evelyn clearly seemed to enjoy it as she would trace her fingers over his hand from time to time. Both of them stared out of their respective windows as they continued to demonstrate the ever-so-small signs of attraction towards each other. As Alan opened her side of the door for her to get out, Evelyn was quickly mesmerised by what she saw. She was overwhelmed by the different smells, music and colours as she had completely forgotten about Alan and walked towards the busy street. There were endless shop vendors selling the most beautiful jewellery, traditional crafts, music boxes, instruments... everything she could think of. Lanterns lit up the street as they hung almost a little too low above her head. She noticed a stand with gorgeous pearl necklaces ranging from delicate single pearl rings to massive, heavy necklaces. She noticed a woman sitting comfortably on the floor playing a traditional instrument, what Evelyn by now knew was a 'Rindik'. The enchanting sound filled the entire street as Evelyn continued to awe at the rest of the vendors. Alan was walking a few steps behind her, almost too proud at what he had achieved. With a smile he observed her child-like curiosity as she stopped to talk to every vendor. He noticed her drag her hand softly over the beautifully woven straw bags and hats as she almost leaped towards the next stand. Alan became quickly distracted by a pearl vendor, a very nice man who called him over to see some pearls. Alan looked back at Evelyn as she continued to walk down the street. Evelyn, unlike Alan, was mesmerised by beautiful soap carvings, she couldn’t keep her eyes off a woman who was delicately carving a lily into a small white bar of soap. She couldn’t contain herself as she observed the endless flower soap carvings displayed in front of her. Pulling out some money she decided to purchase a beautiful architecturally carved white pond lily. Holding the soap in her hands she was almost a little too excited to show it to Alan. Turing around she saw him merely a few steps away from her holding something shiny in his hand.

"Look at this, it’s incredible!" She gushed as she held the delicate soap in her palms. Alan's observed her hands chuckling a little to himself.

"Yes, it’s beautiful-" He agreed. "Looking at this, I realize I might have stopped at the wrong stand..." Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows at his words.

"What do you mean?" Alan pulled out a delicate necklace from his palm. It was a small grey pearl, attached to a thin chain, a little uneven but beautiful, nonetheless. "Oh, it’s beautiful." She smiled

"For you." He muttered gesturing for her to turn around as he moved her long hair to the side, clasping the necklace around her neck. Evelyn shivered at the faint touch of his fingertips before looking down at the long chain.

"You didn’t have too." She dragged, surprised by his gesture.

"It was nothing. Now come on, I know a place around her that serves the most incredible sea-food." Evelyn followed him as they walked for a few minutes before seeing a small outside restaurant, which was dimly lit by some lanterns. The music of the Rindik could still be heard from the distance as Evelyn watched Alan engage in a friendly conversation with one of the waiters. The two were quickly seated near the street. "I hope you like crab." Evelyn nodded before ordering some water. The two repeated their usual routine by engaging in small talk, enjoying the wonderful food and discussing completely unrelated obscure topics and events. It was a strange yet familiar feeling for both. The two were extremely comfortable talking to each other as if behind respective walls. Being careful to tiptoe around sensitive subjects yet comfortably diving into the depths of the most pointless topics. When the two were done with the crab and some dessert, they both knew what was coming next, it was no longer a surprise to them. Alan gently led Evelyn down the street, his hand firmly placed on her lower back as they made their way towards the taxis. On their way back to the hotel, the two became increasingly impatient as Alan's hand kept hiking up higher and higher up Evelyn’s dress, observing as her breath would hitch in her throat with every touch. He was dying to make her moan, dying to feel her lips on his skin, and her voice in his ear. Suddenly it dawned on him that neither of them had had any alcohol. This was the first time where there was absolutely no alcohol involved at any point of the evening. the both of them had previously relied on liquid bravery to push them through any possible awkwardness, thankfully there wasn't any yet.

"Which one of us is going to be putting their clothes back on in the middle of the night?" Evelyn spoke in a hushed tone, wanting to establish dominance and to avoid her own anxieties in the future.

"I'll be the gentleman and leave you be in your own bed tonight." Alan replied his hand still firm on her thigh as his fingers begun to rise up her skirt once more, somehow, he couldn't help himself as those words seemed to come out a little sourer than he had expected.

Within minutes Evelyn was already pushing the door open to her villa. Turning on the light she was busy taking out her phone as she felt Alan's arms wrapped around her waist from behind. He began to roughly kiss her neck as she melted into his body. Alan proceeded to touch Evelyn all over her body making her almost wimper for him. The two stumbled towards the bedroom, each of them taking their own clothes off to speed up the process.

"I've missed this." His husky voice whispered into her ear, Evelyn dug hair nails into his back in response as she once more rolled him over to be on top. She could swear she noticed Alan's expression become sour as soon as she was on top, but that was quickly forgotten when Evelyn started kissing his chest. The rest of the night flashed by in mere seconds. As Evelyn's eyelids became heavy she saw the light flicker off as the villa door shut. The familiar distant feeling of unexpected dread setting into her before she fell asleep. 


	9. The Final Night

_"I can't hear you over all that buzzing-"_

"I know, I'm sorry, I keep getting text updates, I have aboard meeting on Monday and they've already asked me about 5 million different things." Evelyn sighed into the phone. 

_"So demanding...the whole place is clearly falling apart without you."_

"No, no it's just that no one wants to sit in a 3-hour meeting on Monday... so they're trying to prepare everyone as much as they can." 

_"You need to give yourself some credit sometimes."_ Emily scoffed. 

"One day." 

_"When do you land tomorrow?"_

"God, it's like a 16-hour flight with two stops, I don't even know what time Id touch ground." 

_"Christ...And what's your plan for today?"_

"I'm not sure, I've tried every restaurant at the resort, I'm sure you can hear the waves so I'm already at the beach...I don't know what else there is at this point...I packed this morning and-"

 _"Of course, over-organized as always."_ Emily laughed. _"Are you going to see your holiday husband whilst you're there?"_

"Let's not refer to him like that ever again-"

_"Come one! I love it, I think it's clever, Colin thinks it's clever too."_

"Oh great, can't wait to discuss this with Colin..."

 _"Ah! You love him, and there's nothing happening in our lives right now so we're living vicariously through you. Plus he actually knows this actor man quite well unlike me, he was much more excited about this than me."_ Emily and Evelyn laughed.

"You were always terrible with movies, I guess you two really complete each other." 

_"So are you seeing him tonight?"_ Emily pressed again. 

"I'm not sure. Last night was good, but...He knows it's my last day if he wants to see me he will." Evelyn bit on one of her knuckles as she leaned back on her beach chair. 

_"Ha, I love it, just leave it up to the universe, don't do anything about it yourself, very responsible."_ Emily whined. 

"I've taken on enough responsibility in the past, I've now become a full believer in the power of the universe. I'm tired of fighting to make everything work." Although Evelyn spoke with a cheery tone, within her words she felt some pain. She had completely thrown herself into fully controlling her life and relationship in the past, all her energy went into working on the relationship, working on making Richard feel great, working on her own emotions. By now she was frankly tired. 

_"Whatever works for you, my love. I'm just about to go over to your place to feed Ares do you need me to drop off some groceries?"_

"I would love that, thank you." 

_"Great, well, have fun, make sure to come by whenever you're back and settled, fill me in on anything I've missed, I love you."_

"I love you more." Evelyn smiled as the line went dead. She felt the sun become hotter and hotter as it seemed to be right above her. Sighing, she decided to head back to her villa. _If he calls he calls_ she thought, refusing to allow herself to _hope_ for his call.

The breeze was making the book pages shiver between Evelyn's slender fingers as she exhaled a deep breath. She was wrapped in a white fluffy bathrobe, laying on one of the sunbeds by her private pool. The sound of the water flowing in the pool, the faint buzz of insects and the smell of frangipanis hypnotised her as she dived deeper and deeper into her book. At one point Evelyn felt completely at peace, as she began to lose track of how often she would turn over the pages. To her, this was heaven, reading outside with the calm nature surrounding her with no other care in the world. When she was younger, her mother couldn't pry a single book out of her hands as she would simply refuse to go to bed. Her father on the other hand was always overly supportive of her addiction. Eventually, that addiction turned into film alongside books, after completing multiple screenwriting and scoring courses she was determined to go to film school, but alas life chose to take a different direction. Evelyn was so lost in the endless words on the pages that she failed to hear her doorbell ring. On the third ring, her ears finally perked up as she quickly dropped the book and almost skipped to the front door worried that she might have missed her visitor. She was greeted by Alan standing comfortably in her door frame, before saying anything she felt his eyes trail her relaxed body in the bathrobe with a comfortable lazy smile. 

"Hello, darling." Evelyn felt a shover on her spine as she heard the word darling slip from his lips. 

"Oh, I'm darling now?" Evelyn quirked her eyebrow.

"For tonight you are. May I?" He gestured to come in, Evelyn gladly stepped to the side locking the door behind him. 

"Do you mind if I go change quickly?"

"I'd rather you not, I quite enjoy that bathrobe on you...but as you wish." Evelyn rolled her eyes at his cocky demeanour as she walked into the bedroom. Quickly changing into some comfortable shorts and a t-shirt she walked out into the living room to find Alan reading her book on the couch. 

"Enjoying yourself?" 

"I am actually, I'm impressed by your choice of literature." 

"Why? Because it's not a self-help book, or something academic?" Alan chuckled at her quick bite back. 

"Perhaps, or maybe I just haven't seen anyone read a classic in a while."

"They remind me of a better time-" Evelyn winked as she sat next to him. "-have you read this one?"

"No, I never got around to it. I have it in my library but I simply never have the time." 

"You have a library?"

"It's more of an office. But _library_ sounds much more exciting doesn't it?" Alan smirked as he turned over a page. Evelyn continued to question him about his library. She might have gotten a tad too excited as she asked about all the books that he had, his favourites and his most regrettable reads. "Have you eaten?" Alan finally changed the topic before Evelyn could get any more carried away. 

"No, not yet, I've been to every single restaurant here-"

"Well, not every single one." Alan interjected. Evelyn replied with a low hm before she watched him reach for something on the coffee table. Alan handed over the room-service menu as she laughed.

"Room service?" 

"Why not, unless you want to go get your heels on and have me zip you up into a tight dress?" 

"You're right, you're right, let me see that-" She pulled the menu out of his hands beginning to flip through some of the pages. As she continued to read the menu she watched as Alan walked up to the villa phone. 

"What would you like?" 

"I'll have a glass of red wine, and steak tartare, please-" Evelyn watched as he dialled up the phone. "Do you not want anything?" 

"Don't worry, I know what I want." Just as he began speaking on the phone Evelyn curiously listened in. Alan proceeded to call for someone by their name, as if he was a local, order a specific bottle of wine, some food for himself, and a dessert that Evelyn didn't see on the menu. Curiosity took over her as she patiently waited for him to hang up. 

"How are you able to order things off the menu, if I may ask?" 

"I simply know the people who work here." Evelyn wasn't satisfied with that answer, but she chose not to pry. Alan paced around the couch sitting only a few inches away from her. Evelyn lazily leaned back observing him as he got comfortable. "Tell me more about your job?" 

"What would you like to know?" 

"Anything." He smiled before pulling her legs up on the couch and laying them across his lap, waiting for her to speak. Evelyn exhaled a deep breath thinking of what she could tell him. 

"My role right now is mostly managerial. I make sure that anything which goes to publishing matches the style, tone and all that, of the company." 

"What do you like the most about it?" 

"Hm..." Evelyn paused, she hated that she had to think about this for a while. "I guess I feel a certain level of superiority...because I get to read all these incredible manuscripts before anyone else in the world."

"And is that enough?" Evelyn was surprised at his questions, she never thought of asking herself these things and she was certainly not ready to answer these kinds of questions.

"For now it is. I mean, sometimes I'm lucky enough to venture into other things, but for now, I'm happy."

"Other things?" 

"I have a friend who works in screenwriting, he's lovely. I studied with him way back when. Since I have experience with screenwriting, he sometimes asks for my help. I almost never get paid for any of it as its simply a favour. But around a year ago I got to spend a few months working on a screenplay which I absolutely fell in love with. I'm not sure if production will ever start as I haven't heard anything since, but I had such a great time working on it...they paid me for my time and it's now proudly displayed on my resume...and that's enough for me." she smiled. 

"What's stopping you from quitting your job and trying to find something in screenwriting?" 

"Comfort. I get paid good money at _Marelybone publishing_ , its too risky to just leave for nothing."

"I guess you're right." Alan sighed, a little defeated. He could see that she wasn't completely content about her job but alas, the only thing he was capable of doing was talking about it. 

"I'm sure your career stories are much more interesting than mine..." she mused. Alan chuckled at her curiosity as she observed him, hoping for him to tell her something interesting.

"What would you like to know?" He smiled 

"Anything." He winked, mimicking him. 

"I injured myself on the set of _Die Hard..._ it was something to do with a ledge, some stunt... I tore my ligament, whilst still having to film another scene-"

"You're joking-"

"I'm afraid not...There's a scene in the movie where I am in an elevator, and you can't see it, but I am essentially standing on one leg, doing my best to hold my balance because the producer was adamant on me not using crutches which of course makes sense..."

"You're very dedicated to your job Mr Rickman, I'm very impressed." Evelyn chuckled. "Do you ever watch yourself?" 

"Watch the movies I'm in?" 

"Yes." 

"No never. I believe it's somewhat similar to if you were to read over an old screenplay which you already submitted for production... you'd find a million little things which you would want to change, but it would be too late." 

"You're completely right." Evelyn nodded. 

The doorbell rang. Evelyn was about to get up before Alan firmly but gently pushed her back down as he walked up to the door. He let in the waiter with a makeshift table, the food and some wine, signed the check with his villa number and tipped the man. Even though Evelyn was an incredibly independent woman, it was a nice feeling someone somewhat take care of her. He pulled back her chair for her as she sat down and sipped on some water. The two enjoyed a somewhat quiet meal in each others company, occasionally making their regular small talk, about the wine, or the weather, the island or the food. When both were done, Alan made a call for the table to be picked up, took the bottle of wine and gestured for Evelyn to sit by him. 

"Tell me more about Emily." 

"Emily?" 

"Yes, your ever so inquisitive friend." Evelyn was impressed that he even remembered Emily's name. 

"Well...she speaks four languages, currently learning her fifth. We met in high school. Both of us had immigrant parents, so we kind of just drifted towards each other. Our parents are quite close to each other. Her father, Arthur is a wonderful man. He was the first one to call me after he found out about my father passing..." Evelyn sighed. "Emily was always incredibly close with her parents, both of them are professors, they helped us a lot during high school, and even university-" Evelyn laughed. 

"Did you go to the same University?"

"No, we didn't. Although we were tempted... but we're very different."

"Opposites attract." He mused.

"That they do." Evelyn smiled. The two continued to talk a little more about Emily, Evelyn proceeded to tell Alan a few of her accomplishments, and some embarrassing stories before she once more became curious about his background. "If I'm not wrong, you have some experience in theatre...?" Alan scoffed at her. 

"Quite a few decades ago, yes."

"Tell me." Sighing, Alan told her about some of the plays he was in during the late 80's. Evelyn patiently listened to his every word. His voice was so soothing to her and his stories were so above and beyond different and captivating compared to her life that she simply couldn't look away for even a second. She realized that she was enjoying herself a little more than she wanted as his hypnotizing eyes almost forced her to stay focused only on him. Alan was lost in some story, impressed by her curiosity and unbreakable attention towards. Even as he tipped the waiter who picked up the table, he continued to tell her the story, as to him at that moment she seemed to be the only person in the world. He couldn't remember the last time someone was this patient and interested in his pointless theatre stories unless they involved a photo or an autograph. Eventually, he ran out of stories to tell her as she continued to gush at his past. The wine was finished, the sun was down, and although neither of them wanted to admit it, they knew that the night was coming to an end. 

"What time is your flight tomorrow?" 

"I have to leave the hotel at 5:30 in the morning." Evelyn groaned.

"It's already the middle of the night..."

"I know." she whispered. The two of them stayed in comfortable silence for a few seconds. Neither of them quite knowing what to say. But, someone had to say something. 

"I don't want you missing your flight tomorrow." he dragged as Evelyn nodded, gently biting down on one of her rings. Alan turned to Evelyn staring at her for a second as if taking in her appearance, especially her eyes, one last time, sighing he finally got up from the couch. Gently fixing his shirt, he started walking towards the main door, Evelyn followed him closely with her arms crossed over her chest. As Evelyn pulled back the heavy door for him he stepped out into the doorframe. Evelyn could hear the distant croaking of frogs, the moving water of the stone pond under his feet and the breeze in the palm trees. She stared up at the stars as he continued to look only at her, mesmerized by her eyes. Slowly, he placed his palm gently on her check pulling her a little closer towards him. He moved his face closer to hers, hearing a faint gasp come from her mouth. After a long second, he finally placed a soft kiss on her cheek, lingering for just a second as he heard her sigh. "You were right."

"What?" She whispered.

"You _have_ made it hard for me to forget you." Evelyn smirked at him as she felt him pull back. As his eyes were glued on her, she felt the familiar warms inside her chest and stomach. Finally letting out another sigh she gently nodded at him stepping back into her villa, Alan nodded in return before turning to face the pathway. The loud bang of the wooden door shutting made both fall out of their respective trances as Alan sped up down the pathway and Evelyn prepared for bed.


	10. Home

The agitating sound of the suitcase being dragged across the floor echoed in the lobby as Evelyn finally saw her transfer. There was barely any light around, the car headlights being the brightest thing around. The whole place seemed extremely calm, almost too calm. Evelyn took one last glance at the hotel lobby and the lily pond taking in the melancholy feeling before finally jumping into the car. The driver politely offered her some water which she declined as she was too busy staring at the lobby as it began to get further and further away. A tiny part of her had hoped somehow that Alan would have said another goodbye ...but of course, that would be absurd. Evelyn kept telling herself that she was content, even though a little part of her knew she'd miss his company. The rest of the trip for Evelyn was set on autopilot. She was used to travelling for work, and her parents loved to travel when she was young so to her, an airport seemed to be a second home. She was embarrassed to admit that she always enjoyed boring and repetitive processes, they calmed her mind, taking it off anything else going on in her life. Everything was pre-set in advance, all the processes were basic and never required much thought, to her it was like meditation. Without even realizing, she was already scanning the plane for her seat number, her backpack painfully digging into her shoulder. She walked down the aisle politely nodding at some other passengers before finally finding her seat. She had, of course, pre-booked a seat by the window, so she wasn't worried about the flight at all. Shoving her backpack into the overhead compartment she pulled out her sweater wrapping it tightly around her as she leaned on the side of the plane forcing herself to fall asleep. She never had trouble sleeping anywhere, bit somehow she found herself hearing the plane take off, the drinks cart moving down by her and even the conversation behind her. Annoyed, she readjusted her position hoping that that would help. She was anxious. And she couldn't help it n no matter what she did. 

_You have made it hard for me to forget you._

Evelyn grunted to herself as the words suddenly replayed in her mind, his annoyingly hypnotizing voice was clear as day as she opened her eyes, squinting, trailing the pattern of the seat in front of her. She kissed her teeth, deciding to look out the window instead, observing the never-ending ocean. 

Evelyn was destroyed. She watched as the delivery belt meticulously circled around, no bags in sight. She barely got any sleep, now angry at herself that she couldn't understand whether that was because of _him_ or the times of the flights. Her slow blinks were hurting her eyes as she huffed waiting for her luggage. Heathrow looked the same, not that she expected anything different. She suddenly realized how quickly her life went back to normal. Only yesterday, the view out of her window was a beautiful tropical jungle with a private pool. Now, it'll be a pub and a Waitrose once again. She loved her apartment, she got extremely lucky with her real estate agent and managed to snag a beautiful 4th-floor apartment, with access to a terrace. She was paying way too much for rent, but she couldn't complain considering she was on Marylebone high street. Jolting, she suddenly took a quick step towards the belt as she had realized that she missed her suitcase. Pulling the suitcase off the belt, she finally continued down through the 'nothing to declare' tunnel before finally noticing a Costa and the yellow banner with the taxis and the underground. She quickly walked past multiple people holding up signs, flowers and balloons, rushing to get to the taxi line as fast as possible. She suddenly felt a strong hand grip her forearm as she stopped in her steps. 

"Evelyn?" She turned around, recognizing the voice. 

"Oh my god, Colin!" she threw her arms around him before noticing Emily from behind. She reached out her arm to pull her in. 

"I see how it is. You don't see me for almost two weeks but here you are, hugging him first." 

"He just happened to catch up with me first." Evelyn winked. 

"Yeah, about that, whats with the aggressive speed walk towards the exit? I thought the holiday was meant to relax you...?" Emily raised an eyebrow as she pulled the backpack of Evelyn's shoulders. 

"Oh it definitely did, it was just a long trip back..." she dragged. "-thank you so much for picking me up, you didn't have to." 

"Of course, any excuse for us to get out of the house." Colin laughed as he pulled her suitcase towards the exit. As soon as Evelyn sat in the back seat of Colin's Land Rover she felt at home. The two were chatting between each other, trying to find the parking ticket whilst Evelyn leaned back looking out the window. The sky was grey, as usual. Somehow that comforted her. She would definitely miss the vivid sky of Bali, but it was nice to be home nonetheless. 

"So tell us. How was it?" 

"Incredible. I missed travelling so much. The temples, the street markets, the music everything about it was wonderful and-" 

"Especially the _Alan Rickman_ aspect of it," Colin interrupted as they all laughed. 

"God, I'm so glad you're here, I was so tired of reminding Emily of what he was in." 

"I know, shes ridiculous-" Colin smirked as Emily whacked his forearm. "What was he like?"

"He was..." Evelyn paused. "Interesting to say the least." 

"Oh come on!" He teased. "Give me some more, I've been watching his movies for years, I need more dirt-" 

"You haven't even told me how the whole ordeal ended?" Emily added her voice laced with concern. Evelyn finally caved. She told them almost every detail of what happened throughout the whole trip. Some of her story was interrupted by the curiosity of both. 

"I like this 'contract' situation you constructed at the start. Very responsible." Colin added as Evelyn continued telling them what happened day by day. 

"Oh, the pearl necklace, that is actually lovely!" Emily gushed. "I love this little market thing, that's very sweet."

"It was." Evelyn sighed before finally clueing them in on the final night. "-and then that was it, he went back to his villa, and I flew out the next morning." 

"Wait...that's it?!" Emily scoffed. 

"I don't know what you expected Em, I mean, it makes sense to end it like that, although the last thing he said to you was quite poetic, I'm impressed." Colin shook his head in approval before changing the car into fourth gear as they finally sped down the highway. 

"Yes, but come on, I would have expected a little more?" Emily continued, turning her body towards the back seat as Evelyn shrugged. "Are you happy with how everything turned out?" 

"Incredibly. It was exactly what I needed." 

As Colin pulled onto the side of the main road outside of Evelyn's apartment, he turned off the engine hopping out of the car, pulling her suitcase out of the trunk. Evelyn dragged her tired body out of the car before grabbing the suitcase from him. She thanked him for the drive before running up to the front window of his car. She pulled her arms through the window to give Emily a hug. 

"I'm going to be in the centre this week for some notary work, I'll text you before I drop by?" 

"Of course." Evelyn smiled before waving a final goodbye as she crossed the road entering her building. Before closing the door she watched as the two drove off. 

As soon as she opened the door to her apartment, she heard the quick soft footsteps of Ares. The black cat sprinted towards her as she dropped her bag to the floor, quickly picking him up. 

"Oh, I've missed you so much!" She cooed as she hugged him tightly. Ares was never one to meow, as he rubbed his face on her sweater, refusing to let go. After placing him back down on the floor she felt him rub himself against her leg as she walked into her apartment. 

After unpacking her suitcase, showering, and throwing in a load of laundry Evelyn decided to finally read through some of her work emails. Opening her heavy laptop up on her desk, she waited for it to turn on as Ares jumped on her lap, as per routine. Opening up her email, she noticed a plethora of unread messages. Taking in a deep breath she began to sort through them. Some were manuscript questions from her assistant Leo, requesting further approval, some were from HR regarding hiring new personnel, but one email stuck out. It was from the CEO of the company. Evelyn's eyebrows raised as she anxiously clicked on the email. 

_Hello Evelyn,_

_I'm hoping that your holiday is going well._ _We are all very excited to have you back._

_I would like to see you Monday morning before the general board meeting, there is something I would like to discuss with you._

_Unfortunately, I can not disclose any of the details quite yet._

_Please don't be alarmed, but make sure you are at my office precisely at 8:30._

_See you then._

_Michael._

Evelyn's mind started racing with a million questions. Updated book deal? New aspiring author? Problems with HR? She couldn't settle on what it could possibly be as she clicked the close button on his email. She chose not to stress herself out more as she continued to read through the other mundane emails. As she heard the laundry machine beep, she placed Ares down, still in a bit of a haze. 

The rain crashed against Evelyn's window as Ares softly walked over her tired body slumped over in bed. The time difference was still affecting her as she stared at her clock. Awake at 4:43 in the morning instead of her usual 7 am. After failing to fall back asleep multiple times she decided to shower and watch some TV instead of wasting her time in bed. Washing her thick hair, she proceeded to blow dry it before tying it into a tight high ponytail. She chose to wear a deep green blouse with a black pencil skirt, but before putting on the blouse she stepped back into the bathroom to apply a little bit of concealer, eyeliner and mascara. The only three things which were currently saving her from looking like she hadn't slept in years. After she was ready, she made herself some toast and began to flick through the channels, killing time. 

Eventually, it was time to walk to her office. The knot in her stomach was tightening as she went over Michael's email in her head. She had a strangely bad feeling about it, and she couldn't get it out of her head. She greeted the concierge flashing him her employee card before stepping into the elevator. Her hand shook a little as she pressed number 10. As the elevator chimed, she braced herself for whatever was coming next. 

"Good Morning Alice."

"Mornin' Evelyn." 

"Hey, Alex." She nodded at one of her coworkers 

"Welcome back Evelyn!" He smiled walking over to the copier. 

"Marie! How are you?" She paused in her step as she noticed the head of HR. 

"I'm great! How was the holiday? Oh, did you get my email?" Marie pressed.

"Yes, I did. I'm able to attend on Wednesday." Evelyn reassured her. Marie politely nodded at her, as the two went their separate ways. Evelyn found herself gripping on the cold silver handle of her bosses door. She could hear faint voices from the other side. She tensed her fingers around the handle, exhaling a small breath. As she heard Michael's bellowing laugh, she finally decided to push open the door.

"Evelyn! Come on in..." He gestured for her to sit across from him. Michael placed his glasses on the bridge of his nose, folding his hands comfortably together. As Evelyn took another step towards his desk she made sure to look towards the other seat, curious as to who else would be in this meeting. Her eyes lit up as soon as she recognized the familiar features of the tall man staring back at her with a grin. 

"Oscar?"


	11. Difficult Choices

"Oscar?" The tall man quickly got off his seat and embraced her as she stood there completely dumbfounded. "What are you doing here?" 

"Thought you'd seen the last of me?" 

"It's been forever..." Evelyn smiled as she hugged him tighter, forgetting where she was. "-what are you doing here?" 

"I'm afraid that will have to wait, sit." Oscar cautioned her as he sat down. Evelyn looked back at Michael who seemed to be enjoying their small reunion. She gently sat down on the chair, crossing her legs. 

"So?" She smiled, eyes darting between the two. 

"Oscar, would _you_ like to start?" Michael politely gestured towards the man. 

"Sure, um..." Oscar searched for the right words. "Remember when I asked you for your help around a year ago on writing that tedious screenplay?-" Evelyn nodded, now more confused than ever about what this could possibly be about. "Well, the project was finally picked up!" Oscar's eyes lit up as Evelyn smiled, admiring his success. 

"That's great Oscar, congratulations!" She chuckled, still confused. 

"I'm currently working with a German-based production company, which finally acquired the full rights for the book. They plan on beginning production as soon as possible-" Oscar leaned back in his chair his expression quickly changing to faint worry. "-when I offered them the script that you wrote-"

"You mean that _you_ wrote. I just helped you." 

"Oh, come off it, we both know you wrote 80% of it." Oscar playfully nudged her. "Anyways, they dismissed it at first, simply using the outlines for the general scene progression, however, the two writers spent months developing a new script, and to no avail. They were unhappy with the fact that they couldn't quite get the main character to express himself within the script. Frankly, the book lacks that as well, however, that's not a problem within the book because, well, people can read the descriptions." Oscar and Michael laughed as she observed them before he continued. "When they were finally at a loss, they decided to look through the original script which I had offered them at the beginning-" Oscar paused, slowly leaning in towards Evelyn. "-and they absolutely loved it." He whispered. Evelyn lit up a little as her smile grew wider. 

"That's wonderful. But if I remember well, the script which we wrote was incomplete. We only did I believe...half of it altogether? And not even in chronological order. I'm assuming they would like to completely re-work it." 

"Well... they tried to do that, but they still didn't like the way the narrative was flowing," Oscar added before pausing. "-they want the original writer of _that_ screenplay on the project." Evelyn cocked her head to the side a little, _surely he means himself_. 

"I don't understand-"

"He means to say that they want you on the project, Evelyn," Michael announced as he leaned over the desk. Evelyn was speechless. She couldn't wrap her head around it, still not quite understanding what they both meant. 

"I'm sure I could send them some..extra scenes? Would that help?" She wasn't even quite sure what she was suggesting, frankly, she had no idea where this was going with this. 

"No Evelyn." Michael sighed. "The company contacted me directly. They sent Oscar here to negotiate. They want you on the project full time." Evelyn's heart dropped. 

"But what about my job here?" Was all she could muster. 

"The main thing is-" He paused before leaning even more over the desk, as his hands clasped together. "-are at all interested in this offer?" Michael's voice became stern quite quickly as Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows. She could feel Oscar's eyes burning into the side of her head. Without thinking too much she caved.

"Perhaps." 

"Very well." Michael sighed again as he pulled a thick stack of paperwork from his cupboard. "as I am sure you know, I can not afford to lose my best editor-" He pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose before licking his thumb and turning over a few pages. "Therefore I can offer you a promotion, however, if you refuse this offer-" Michael slid a contract with a number and a signature space towards her, Evelyn's eyes went wide as she scanned the numbers, picking up the paper. "-, if you chose to accept their offer, I cannot guarantee that you will still have a place at this firm." Evelyn gripped the piece of paper, utterly shocked. Before she had a single second to wrap her head around this she noticed Oscar passing her a similar stack of papers. Evelyn picked them up with her free hand observing the cover as Oscar began to speak.

"This project will last for 9 months. Where exactly the production will take place we are unable to disclose yet. Who is involved in the project we similarly can not disclose due to confidentiality reasons. You will have to be available at all times for re-writes and table reads, possibly in multiple locations. And last but not least-" He reached for the contract in her hand, quickly flipping a few pages. " _Here_ is your salary." Evelyn felt her lungs tense as she saw the number. Re-reading it over and over again before slamming both the contacts on her lap. 

"You want me to make this decision _now?_ " Her voice came out frailer than she expected as her head darted from one man to another.

"Oh, don't be absurd. The production company notified me that you have three days." Michael smirked. Evelyn's jaw dropped. She heard some shuffling in Oscar's chair as she proceeded to stare out the window of Michael's office. 

"I have to run Eve. But I'll be in London for the next few weeks, you have my number." He cheekily kissed her cheek before stepping out of the office. Evelyn heard the door shut behind her. Her ears were ringing and her fingers were slowly becoming white from gripping onto the contracts. Michael stared at her for a second before placing his palm on the desk, pushing his chair back to get up. 

"Right...I'll see you at the board meeting?" Evelyn gently nodded still frozen in her place. Michael placed his palm on her shoulder squeezing it reassuringly. Evelyn could feel a certain melancholy energy from him. After all, it had been years since she started working at this company. She was once bringing Michael coffee into his office, marking his meetings on the calendar, and reminding him of his pending contracts. Now, she was his top editor, on the road to possibly becoming his partner. She finally looked up at Michael, who had a sad smile on his face, his palm still placed on her shoulder. 

"You know I haven't decided yet, right?" She reassured him. 

"I know."

The day went by like a blur. Evelyn barely said a word at the board meeting, thankfully Michael was understanding about her daze. She caught herself scanning over the words without actually reading them as she worked over multiple manuscripts in her office. Leo called her name 3 times before she finally noticed him in her doorway. Evenly's feet were moving on their own as she heard the rain clash against her umbrella. As she walked across the street from her office her feet suddenly took her towards the underground. Without quite knowing what she was doing, she found herself tapping her Oyster card at Bond Street station. She stared at the people on the tube gripping onto the handles as she followed the red central line on the map with her eyes like a maze. Her arm pressed her handbag with both the contracts towards her body as she sat on the uncomfortable seat. As she exited the tube, she completely forgot about her umbrella, speedwalking down the street. Her hair and face were soaked, but she didn't care. Eventually, she found herself facing the familiar burgundy door. Ringing the doorbell she heard Periwinkle's loud bark from the other side. 

"Hi." She smiled, wiping her face from the water. 

"Christ Evelyn, come in." Emily opened the door for her, dragging her in by the arm. Evelyn was standing in the doorway of the house frozen in her place. "Did something happen?' Emily was beginning to get concerned as Evelyn painfully slowly began to take off her coat. Emily waited for a second before noticing Evelyn's lost gaze. "Tea?" 

"Sure." 

"That's better. Come on, Colin's making dinner - quiet Pery!" Emily scolded as the puppy continued to bark. Evelyn tied her wet hair into a messy bun as she wiped her face once more from the rain. 

"Jesus Evelyn, you look like hell." Colin laughed as Evelyn sat down at their kitchen table. She smiled back softly at him as he continued to stir the pan full of sauce, splashing some on the kitchen counter. Emily put on the kettle before sitting across from Evelyn at the table. 

"So?" She pried. 

Evelyn finally raised her eyes from the counter to look at her. "Remember Oscar?"

"Of course!" Emily chuckled. "The guy who worked with you on some films, you finished your first bachelor with him, right? Or some courses, I can't remember. Got that first job together... God, he was so fun, had the best nights with him back in the day..." Emily continued as Evelyn softly nodded. "Sorry, carry on." She gestured as she stopped chattering. 

"He's in London." 

"Is he visiting?"

"Sort of-" Evelyn reached into her bag pulling out both the contracts. Emily furrowed her eyebrows as she reached for the contracts scanning the title. "Colin?"

"Almost done! One second-" Colin filled up three bowls with the pasta covered in vivid red sauce. He quickly placed the bowls on the table before grabbing a seat. "I'm ready, what is it?" Evelyn quickly began to speed through the events of what happened that morning. The two didn't even manage to get a bite of their food as they eagerly waited for her to finish. When Evelyn was done, she exhaled a tense breath pushing the contracts towards them. She reassured them that there was no classified information before both dug into the contracts. Evelyn patiently waited as both of them read through each page. The two exchanged contracts after a few minutes repeating the same process. Colin reached out for his note pad and glasses, jotting down some calculations whilst Emily was visibly shocked at the turn of events, frantically re-reading different pages. 

"This is incredible!" Emily exclaimed, her voice making both Colin and Evelyn jump. "This is what you've always wanted! And from the numbers, it's nothing like those indie movies which you and Oscar used to work on-" Evelyn nodded at her, biting down on her thumb. 

"You can't possibly be considering this..." Colin dragged. 

"Excuse me?" Emily scoffed.

"Look, I know this looks like the deal of a lifetime right now, but you have to understand that this is not a long term option...look at the facts Evelyn, the job you have pays well and this is clearly a temporary opportunity-"

"You don't know that, watch her write the best screenplay of the decade and become a millionaire." Emily growled at him as she pulled the note pad away. The two proceeded to bicker as Evelyn observed them. Evelyn's suddenly found herself in the same position as she was in the morning, her eyes darting from one friend to another. 

"You're not helping," Evelyn finally interjected. Emily sighed as Colin continued to flick through the pages. 

"Look." He spoke as he placed the contract back on the table. "We will support you no matter what you chose, but in the end, the decision is yours. All I can do is lay out the financial facts for you." 

"Are you really happy with your job now?" Emily leaned back in her chair observing her. Evelyn waited for second gathering her thoughts. 

"I guess. It's an incredible job I-"

"That's not what I asked you." she interrupted her. Evelyn grunted to herself before getting up from the table and pacing through the kitchen. She played with her rings as she walked from the stove back to the table over and over again. 

"I think I'm entitled to an emergency cigarette right now." She stared at them, biting the inside of her cheek. Evelyn never had an addictive personality. She picked up smoking during her bachelors. Occasionally sneaking a few cigarettes during weekends on nights out. The habit thankfully never evolved into a problem however sometimes that was the only thing that calmed her. Since quitting, she only had two more: one when her father died and one when she decided to break off her engagement. Emily got up from the table and began rummaging through the kitchen drawer 

"I'm sure we have some laying around somewhere, Colin always keeps a stash in case the stock market drops or whatever." Colin laughed before reaching out towards her pointing towards the second to last drawer on her left. Emily pulled out the battered up pack, sliding a cigarette out. She handed it over to Evelyn, who gripped it with her right hand, still pacing the kitchen.

"This is an opportunity of a lifetime." She stated as she paused in her step. "But if it goes south, I'll lose everything." 

"Perhaps." Emily smiled as she closed the drawer. "Or perhaps you'll be the happiest you've been in a long time." No matter how much Evelyn wanted it she was nowhere close to a decision. She shoved the cigarette into the side pocket of her bag before sitting down and digging into her pasta. 

"This is delicious Colin, thank you." She spoke between bites. 

"Cheers, how long do you have to decide, by the way?" 

"Three days." 

"That seems reasonable!" Emily snorted. The three continued to eat their food almost in silence, occasionally making some small talk. Evelyn picked at her food before finally deciding to go home. 

"You guys are wonderful, thank you for everything." Evelyn wrapped her arms around both of them before petting Periwinkle goodbye. 

"Anytime. We weren't extremely helpful anyways, I'm not exactly sure why you keep coming here for advice." Emily sighed as she unlocked the front door. 

"Because you're polar opposites. It's what I needed to hear."

The next three days were an absolute blur. Evelyn's mind completely split into two as she struggled to make a decision. She continued to go into work, of course, still giving it her 110%, pretending like nothing was out of the ordinary. Her days were filled with endless manuscripts and her evenings were spent entertaining Ares as she answered emails and watched some not-so-memorable movies whilst the two contracts neatly stacked at her desk were constantly hypnotising and distracting her. On the second day, she called her brother Rafael to possibly shed some more light on the situation. He immediately took Colin's stance, however, he reminded her that their father would have done the polar opposite. Rafael knew that Evelyn would give anything to be able to consult him about this. Evelyn considered calling her mother but chose not to as her mother was never great at making life-changing decisions. She was torn. On the third day, Evelyn knew she had to make a decision. She sat on her terrace, holding the cigarette between her slender fingers, hoping to maybe find the right answer in there. She finally grabbed the neon pink lighter and lit it, taking in a slow puff. The smoke escaped her mouth slowly, mesmerizing her as she watched it drift away in the wind. As she continued to smoke in silence and solitude, staring out onto the buildings and the distant city lights she finally felt calm. By the time she was halfway through it, she knew what she had to do. As she exhaled her last puff, she looked at her phone on the living room table. Knowing it was already quite late for a business phonecall, she quickly opened up the terrace door, hopping back inside her apartment. Taking long strides towards the table she grabbed her phone, scanning for the number in her contacts. Just as she clicked the green button she anxiously waited for the ringing to stop. 

"Hey, I'm glad you called." She could almost hear his smirk through the phone, and with that, she was finally certain.

" _I'm in_." 

"Fantastic." He exclaimed. Leaning onto her table, Evelyn felt her whole body suddenly relax.

"What now?" 

"Now Evelyn... welcome to _Perfume: The Story of a Murderer_." 


	12. Antoine Richis

"I understand, Evelyn."

"I want you to know that I am incredibly grateful. For everything. And I am so glad you agreed to have that interview with me years ago." She heard Michael chuckle on the other end of the line.

"Yes. You impressed me that day. And you've impressed me every single day since. But I always knew you wouldn't stick around forever." sighed Michael. "Anyways, congratulations; I hope the production goes well. If not, we always have intern positions open." Evelyn laughed before hanging up the phone. Her eyes drifted towards her burgundy organiser. The thick leather binding was overflowing with small posted notes, ripped up pieces of paper and poking out business cards. Reluctantly she pulled it closer to herself, unfolding the heavy binding open on her dining table. She scanned through some of the pages from September, glancing over her old meetings, phone calls, client cards and her messy scribbles of phone numbers and notes. Suddenly her fingers paused as she noticed her own business card with the company's embossment. She rubbed her thumb over the cardboard dragging it over the company logo. The decision, of course, wasn't easy for her, but she didn't expect to get emotional over some logo. She reminisced back to her first week at the company, the first time she got to pitch a manuscript, the first time Michael complimented her on her exceptional work ethic, the time one of her heels snapped, and Leo was nice enough to cover for her whilst she ran home. She took the business card and placed it in one of her drawers under the work desk before deciding to clean out her planner to start on a new leaf. Turning on her TV for some background noise, she began to rip out old pages and replace them with new empty blocks. She ruthlessly pulled out every month except the opener, which had the yearly spread, tossing the pages into a trash bag nearby. As she neared the end, she noticed two weeks blocked out in red pen. _Bali,_ it spelt in her handwriting.

Evelyn felt a shiver go down her spine as Alan's voice echoed in her head. Her back collided with the chair as she started to remember every sensual detail of what happened. Convinced that she must have forgotten most of it by now, she was surprised to find that she could almost feel his hands on her body, his voice in her ear and his lips on her cheek. Blinking a few times, her body got up on its own as she walked over to her jewellery box. Opening it, she found the pearl staring right at her. The uneven yet beautiful pearl was begging to be worn. Without a second thought, Evelyn picked up the thin chain and carefully clasped it behind her neck. She glanced back at her mirror as she pulled her hair out from the chain. Running her fingers over the same spot on her neck, which he was the last to touch. She remembered his coarse laugh and his eyes from that day. Her trans was interrupted by Ares softly walking between her legs, waiting to be fed. Just as she placed the food bowl down, she heard her phone ring from the living room. 

"Yes?" 

"Are you all prepared?" Oscars cheeky voice teased her.

"Yes, yes, you've texted me the address, the time, you've practically described how I should do my hair and what colour thong I should wear. I get it, and I'll be on my best behaviour."

"I'm sure that you will. I called to warn you about tomorrow-" Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows. "-It's going to be a long day. First, there will be a small meeting where you'll be introduced to the other two writers; then, you have to start working almost immediately. A table read is planned by the end of the week, but before that, you have to re-write quite a bit of the first act, not all of it, but at least so there would be enough for the table read-" Evelyn's eyes were becoming wider and wider as she continued to listen to Oscar table on and on. "-then, at around noon some of the actors who are already in London are going to come and mingle with the writers, the producers, the director and basically just, well you know, become a little more comfortable with each other-"

"Oscar, they're actors. I highly doubt they need to go through that; I would have assumed they would just meet at the table read?" Oscar scoffed at her.

"Well, now that you've accepted the offer I can tell you that a lot of the filming will be happening in Barcelona, Paris, Munich and god knows where else I don't quite-"

"What?!" she gasped. "Surely I'm not involved in that since I'm just one of the three writers..."

"That's where you're wrong. They want a lot of the dialogue to get ins-"

"-Inspired by the scenery, yes, that's screenwriting 101, I just didn't think that I would be one of the people that are going." 

"Well, they're very meticulous with this production, plus the company covers everything. You won't have to pay a penny."

"Okay."

"Just be ready that tomorrow will be a busy day, but if anyone can handle it, it's you." Oscar sang the last word as Evelyn laughed at his antics. The two chatted a little longer about the production and what she should wear before finally calling it a night. 

Evelyn decided to wear something extremely simple, not wanting to stand out from the crowd. She had some jeans on a white t-shirt and a black blazer with some elegant but fitting black heels. Just as she stepped into the cab, she suddenly realised the amount of pressure she would be under in 40 minutes. Not even having asked Oscar what actors would be there, the last thing she needed was to get flustered. Her lungs felt tense as the cars passed on the opposite lane. As the cab pulled up to the front of the lavish building, Evelyn noticed Oscar behind the glass doors frantically waving at her. 

"Right on time!" Pulling her by the arm, he dragged her into the building. He quickly handed her a card with her photo on it, barely giving her enough time to swipe it as he whizzed through security. Oscar paced towards the elevator without looking back whilst Evelyn strode behind him. Within mere seconds Evelyn was standing inside someone's office smiling at the two men who had never seen her before but decided to hire her blindly. 

"We love the script."

"Yes."

"But it needs more work. Can you provide us with ten pages by tomorrow?" 

"Yes." Evelyn nodded. 

"I'm Jonathan-"

"And I'm Frank." The two stuck out their hands to shake Evelyn's. Evelyn politely shook each of their hands as she turned her head from one man to another, not sure who to make eye contact with. 

"I'm Evelyn."

"Yes, Oscar told us a lot about you; we hope you won't disappoint us." Frank smiled as Evelyn smirked back. 

"I'm sure I won't." She retaliated. The men started to laugh at her quick wit, surprised to see someone so confident for once standing up to them. 

"Lovely, Evelyn." Jonathan sighed as he got up and handed her over a thick stack of papers. "Oscar will show you to your temporary office. As soon as we know the exact day we will be departing London; we will make sure to notify you a week in advance."

"Thank you." 

"Thank _you_." Jonathan smiled as he waved her out of the office. Evelyn followed Oscar down the hallway as she still couldn't believe what was happening. Her anxiety was now becoming overwhelming excitement as she gripped the pages between her hands. She didn't care what her office would look like or how much of her writing they were even going to use; she was just excited to be part of something this _huge_. The office was a little smaller than her old one, of course, but luckily her windows allowed in plenty of natural light, and the desk was big enough to fit all her ridiculous stationary. It was perfect. As soon as she sat down on the chair and opened her heavy laptop, her left hand was skimming through the old screenplay as her fingers began to tap the heavy keyboard. Oscar tried to say bye to her as he shut the door, but she couldn't hear him; she was instantly carried away by the sound of her fingers tapping the keyboard. At that moment and time, nothing else mattered to her other than the words on the screen. The numbers of the word count kept going up and up as she shifted in her seat every few minutes. The voices in the hallway were drowned entirely as Evelyn became one with the writing. As the word count crept up to three thousand, Oscar slowly pulled open the glass door. 

"Eve?" 

"Hm?" She responded without taking her eyes off the screen.

"It's almost noon. Come." He smiled.

"Yeah, of course..." She spoke quietly as she added one extra comma before finally saving the document and getting up. Her eyes adjusted to the light of the office as she cracked her neck. 

"You really went for it, huh?" 

"I don't know what happened to me. I just couldn't stop." 

"Do you remember when we stayed up until five trying to finish the first act?" Oscar smiled as he linked his arm with hers. 

"Of course. That seems like a lifetime ago, and now we're back to where we were...well I am, I'm still not sure what you do?" Evelyn cocked her head to the side. 

"Director's assistant." 

"You're joking?!" gushed Evelyn. Oscar held back his grin as they continued to stroll towards the big conference room. The door was open ever so slightly as Evelyn heard numerous voices from inside. Before Oscar could push the door open, she stopped for a second. 

"You okay?" Oscar unlinked his arm from her, looking down at her face.

"Yes, of course. Come on. I'm excited." As Oscar opened the door, Evelyn was greeted by a flurry of people. There were about twenty people there, mingling with each other. She quickly went over the main characters in her head, hoping to figure out who was who. She noticed a very tall young man at the back of the room. _Jean-Baptiste_ , she thought. She continued to scan the room as Oscar stayed close to her. Her eyes landed on a beautiful tall young woman with hair like fire, _Laure_ , she assumed. Before she could continue her little game, she felt someone's hand on her forearm.

"You must be the new writer?" A calm voice announced. Evelyn quickly turned to see Dustin Hoffman. Her eyes lit up a little as she shook his hand. 

"Yes, I'm Evelyn, its so nice to meet you." She chuckled a little, amazed at the fact that _he_ came up to _her_. 

"Dustin. This book is a masterpiece. I've been tied to this production for a while. I heard that they were hiring a new writer because the script was delayed." He continued.

"Yes, I'm very excited to be working on it." Dustin sipped on his water as Evelyn tried to gather her thoughts. "And you will be playing...Antoine, I'm assuming?' Evelyn squinted a little. Dustin began to laugh as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. 

"Oh, no, no. I will be Giusseppe." He smiled. 

"Oh! My apologies." Evelyn felt slightly embarrassed for whatever reason. 

"None of that!" He smiled at her. "Actually..." Dustin looked away from Evelyn, scanning the room. "-I believe Antoine is here as well. Would you like to meet him?" Before Evelyn could say anything, Dustin nudged for her to follow him. "Come, come." He walked towards the furthest corner of the room with Evelyn hot on his heels, scanning some of the faces. She wasn't sure who was an actor and who was working on the pre-production. As she began to get lost in the sea of people around her, she noticed Dustin come to a holt. "Alan, this is the new writer that they've been telling us about-" Evelyn turned her head from the other corner of the room, where she was mesmerised by the writer of the book, Patrick Süskind, having a casual conversation with someone. She was smiling politely, preparing another opening sentence, when suddenly her whole body felt cold. _It was him_. Out of all the people in London, it was him. Her arms became stiff as she watched him pull out his hand from the pocket of his trousers to greet her. Alan was parading a wide smile before his eyes landed on hers. His face became pale, perfectly matching hers as the two stared at each other. After a few seconds of deafening silence, Dustin furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes darted between the two. "Something wrong?" 

"No," Evelyn replied in almost a whisper, finally able to pull her hand towards him. The two silently shook hands as Evelyn inhaled a sharp breath. Alan's hand lingered for a little too long on hers as his face still displayed a visible state of shock. However, to her own surprise, Evelyn recovered much quicker."I'm Evelyn. It's lovely to meet you. I'm a big fan." She smiled, pulling her hand back. Her knees felt like they were going to buckle from under her as she gripped her glass of water. 

"Yes, it is wonderful to meet you too," Alan spoke calmly. The sheer tone of his voice made Evelyn's whole body tense as her breathing quickened. As Evelyn tried to tie another sentence together in her head, Dustin got called away by someone, leaving the two alone. No one else mattered in the room as the two stared at each other. The voices around them begun to dull as Evelyn focused on her breathing. Alan did the same. "You look beautiful. As always." Alan spoke in a hushed tone. Evelyn opened her mouth, but no words came out. Within seconds she felt someone's hand grip at her once more. 

"Come. They want to introduce you." Oscar hissed in her ear as he pulled her back. Evelyn was hauled away in mere seconds. Her skin still pale as snow. "Everyone!" Jonathan announced as Evelyn quickly walked up to his side, plastering a smile on her face. "This is Evelyn. She will be joining our crew for the full duration of the production. Please give her a warm welcome." Evelyn smiled as the people began to clap. She couldn't concentrate on what else Jonathan said as she felt Alan's dark eyes burn through her. Locking eyes with him, the two stared at each other as Jonathan proceeded to speak. After a few tortured seconds, Evelyn finally broke from his gaze as she felt Jonathan looking at her. 

"Yes, thank you so much, everyone. I am very excited to be working with all of you, and I am absolutely honoured to be part of this wonderful team." She smiled. The clapping erupted once more as she quietly thanked Jonathan. Everyone quickly dispersed into their own conversations. Evelyn stared at the floor for a second before deciding to evacuate herself from the situation. After all, she could still feel his eyes on her. Whispering to Oscar that she was going back to her office to write, she quickly disappeared from the crowd. Alan watched her intently, unable to focus on any of the conversations around him. Excusing himself, he decided to follow her. The voices died down as he closed the door from behind him. Making sure that no one watched him leave, he quickly followed the sound of her quick footsteps before stopping himself in front of her office door. Evelyn was facing the wall. Her arms crossed over her chest, her chest visibly rising and falling from her deep breaths. Evelyn was unaware of Alan watching her as she began to pace her office. The first thing she did was quickly pull off the small pearl necklace from her neck and shove it into the pocket of her jeans, not wanting for him to notice and maybe get the wrong idea. She paced a little too close to the door, gasping when she noticed Alan staring at her. Opening the door, the two were finally alone. 

"What are you doing here?" 

"Quiet." He hissed as he firmly shut the door from behind him. Evelyn's mouth gaped as he carefully pulled her by the arm towards the corner of the room where no one could see them. 

"Why does everyone keep grabbing me today..." Evelyn spoke from under her breath. 

"Sorry." He whispered as he let go. "You're the new writer?" He spoke in disbelief.

"Yes." Evelyn almost whined as she covered her face with her hand, still pacing in the corner of the room. 

"Well..."He dragged. "At least now, if I have any issues with the dialogue, I won't have to go far." He smirked. Evelyn slapped him across his arm before continuing to bite down on her finger as he laughed. 

"Are you insane? This isn't funny. Do you have any idea what would happen if anyone found out?" 

"Found out what?" Alan quirked an eyebrow at her. 

"Oh, god." Evelyn whispered as she placed her head back into her palm. "I could get fired." She heard Alan scoff before he softly pulled her hand away from her face. No matter how much Evelyn wanted to fight it, his touch ignited something in her that she really didn't want to feel right now. 

"You will not get fired. We'll just have to be careful about it." Evelyn's expression quickly changed as she pulled away from him. 

"Careful about what? Were not in Bali anymore. Don't even _think_ about that." She hissed as Alan stepped back, smirking at her. 

"I have never seen you this worked up. I like it." He leaned back on her desk, casually placing his hands in his pockets. 

"Very funny." Evelyn bit back. 

"The friend you told me about, the one you studied with, is that the tall eccentric boy...the directors assistant?" 

"Yes, Oscar, how do you even remember that?" Evelyn paused in her pace as she watched Alan shrug. 

"I remember more than you think." Alan smiled as he walked back towards the door. "I'll see you on Friday." He added as Evelyn nodded, still petrified of somehow losing this job. "Oh and-" Just as he was about to shut the door, he peaked his head back in. "The necklace looks lovely on you." 


	13. Pressure

Alan had rules. Restrictions. Concrete obligations. There was a reason he was alone in Bali, and there was an even bigger reason as to why he returned similarly, _alone_. No matter how captivated he was by Evelyn or how badly he wanted to drop into her office and make small talk or just exchange some banter, he held himself back. _Firmly_. They had a verbal agreement, after all.

Evelyn was meticulously preparing for the table read. She showed up to her office an hour early to go over the pages before any of her coworkers stepped foot into the building. The scene which the writers wanted to be read involved only Alan and his "daughter". An emotionally heavy scene that Evelyn was ridiculously nervous about. Not only would there be only two actors and the writers present, so it would be incredibly intimate, but Alan would also be there, reading her writing, _working_ off of her writing. Evelyn was becoming a little overwhelmed as she frantically corrected another word before sending the scene over to the printer for the 3rd time this morning. As she stapled the pages together, she caught a glimpse of Alan in the hallway. 30 minutes early. A little surprised, she continued to work in her office without making eye contact. Alan watched her from afar, struggling to keep his eyes off her. Grunting to himself, he decided to say hello to her; _there's no harm in that_ , he thought to himself. There was a heavy feeling in his chest. With every step he took towards her office, he knew that what he would be doing might end up badly. The night before, he had lightly contemplated how to handle this situation and if there was anything to handle at all. Some small talk, some smiles, and that's it, what else was there to do? But is that all he wanted...he wasn't sure. But one thing he knew was that none of his plans involved breaking his own rules. He didn't particularly care what would happen if the company would find out, but find out what? What is it he wanted? Surely he couldn't just walk into her office and suggest sex; that would be absurd. How would that even work if they would see each other almost every day for the next few months? Would she even agree to that? Does he want that? Especially since she had already made herself clear with where she stands. 

"Yes?" 

Alan hadn't realized that he had already pulled her door open, completely lost in his trail of thoughts. He focused his eyes on her as she smiled slightly at him from her desk. 

"Good morning."

"Good morning to you too." The room filled with uncomfortable silence. He wanted to make some smart remark or flirty comment, but nothing seemed to come to his mind. "You alright there?" Evelyn asked, a little concerned at his silent demeanour.

"Yes. Sorry. How is the script coming along?" He cleared his throat, leaning on the glass doorway. 

"It's done. Hopefully, the writers like it." 

"I'm sure they will." Alan smiled as the tension seemed to slowly ease out of the room. Alan's curiosity was overwhelming him as his eyes drifted towards the papers. "May I?" He gestured towards the script. Evelyn was hesitant at first; however, she needed a little bit of confidence and reassurance no matter how much she refused to admit it. Giving in, she nodded, getting up from her chair and walking up to him. As soon as the two were in close proximity of each other, their breathing suddenly slowed. Alan was staring into her eyes as she did the same, slowly handing over the scrip to him. Both of them held onto the script for a second before Alan finally managed to look away from her and turn over some pages. Evelyn watched intently as his lips slowly moved, reading the lines. She noticed his eyebrows quirk a few times, and a small smile appear on his face as he continued to mouth the words to himself. Impatience overriding her, she caved.

"So?"

"It's-" He paused before finally turning his head down to face her, once more getting somewhat lost in her eyes. "It's beautiful." Alan seemed to whisper the words, his eyes firmly glued to her lips which now curved into a smile. He was unsure whether he was only referring to the script or her as well. Everything he had thought about before entering her office seemed to drift away from his mind as he continued to stare at her. Evelyn felt the familiar heat in her lower abdomen as they firmly held each others gaze. "I'm sure Jonathan and Frank will love it." He couldn't hold himself back as his hand found its way to her lower back. Evelyn shivered from his touch. She knew that she should have told him to let go. Still, the heat radiating from the spot on her skin where she could feel his fingers through her sheer shirt burned her with pleasure as she nodded, moving ever so slightly closer to him, making sure not to make anything look too suspicious. 

"Thank you." Pulling the papers from his hand, she noticed Frank opening the conference room door. "We should go."

"Yes." Alan confirmed as he slowly led her out of the office. His hand still firmly placed on her lower back. Evelyn had a burning desire to move closer to him as they walked. The desire to grab his hand and wrap it tighter around her waist. But she held back. She struggled but held back. Alan was in a similar mindset, and he used all his power to stop himself from gripping her tighter. Wanting to feel her skin on his once more, hearing her moan, feeling her whole body close to his. The two were somewhat oblivious to each others wants, whilst their own desires were burning so visibly through their eyes. Alan opened the conference door for her as she walked in. His hand quickly left her back, becoming cold. Lightly rubbing her neck, Evelyn focused on getting Alan out of her head. _His touch meant nothing but politeness anymore; she_ kept reminding herself. Greeting Jonathan and Frank, she sat down next to them as Alan sat almost across from her, waiting for his scene partner. Evelyn could feel Alan periodically stare at her. She felt his eyes roam her body as she proceeded to hold a casual conversation with Frank. Once more, feeling the familiar high from noticing him basically undress her with his eyes, Evelyn decided to lean into the game just a little bit, against her own fears of anyone noticing. Leaning back in her chair as Jonathan and Frank chatted between each other, she carefully pushed her hair back, revealing more of her chest than she should have. She heard an almost inaudible grunt come from Alan as he tore his eyes away from her, now visibly frustrated. Evelyn continued to listen to Frank's and Jonathan's conversation as Rachel, the actress who played Laure, finally pushed open the doors, quickly greeting everyone and finding her place across from Alan.

The moment which Evelyn somewhat dreaded finally came around. She handed out the scene scripts to everyone in the room, anxiously waiting for the two to start. Suddenly, everyone in the room was transported. After the first few words fell from Alan's lips, Evelyn was captivated. She had seen him on screen multiple times, but she had never seen him act with such ease. Everyone observed them as Alan seemed to become a completely different person. Evelyn was captivated by his deep voice. For the next 7 minutes, Alan and Rachel seemed to bounce off each other as they continued to act. Evelyn kept looking back at the writers, who seemed to be just as hypnotised as she was. From the line which Rachel read, Evelyn could tell that the scene was coming to an end. Feeling the familiar wave of anxiety, she twisted the ring on one of her fingers, hoping to get good feedback from the writers. As soon as the last words chimed through the conference room. Alan made sure to look directly at Evelyn, who was nervously smiling at him. Jonathan and Frank instantly began to clap as Rachel and Alan joined them. 

"That was wonderful. Thank you so much, Alan and Rachel. Evelyn-" Evelyn quickly turned her head smiling at Frank, expecting the absolute worst. "-this is great. It is exactly what we needed. We will, of course, still need to tweak some minor things, but overall, it's perfect. Let's hope you can continue this for the rest of the script." Evelyn felt a wave of relief wash over her as she released a tense breath. Thanking the two writers, she collected the scripts from everyone before getting up from her chair. "I wanted to remind everyone that there is a small dinner happening tonight at Kai. Everyone, please be there at 8 pm. I've already notified the rest." Frank added before him, and Jonathan quickly pulled Rachel towards them, asking her numerous questions, which Evelyn failed to hear as she was simply too happy to focus on anything. As she stacked the papers together, she felt Alan walk around the table to stand behind her. 

"I told you." He whispered into her ear. Evelyn flinched a little, feeling his breath on her neck. Her eyes quickly darted towards the door, making sure that there was no longer anyone inside the conference room. 

"You _have_ to be more subtle. You can't just creep up on me like that." She laughed a little, picking up her pen and phone from the table, hearing Alan scoff from behind her.

"Yes, because you were _so_ subtle," Alan remarked, clearly referring to her movements throughout the table read. Evelyn's mouth gaped before laughing. 

"I have no idea what you could possibly be referring to," he smirked playfully. She knew damn well what he was talking about. _A little flirting won't do any harm, right?_ She couldn't stop herself as she leaned back ever so slightly into his body, pressing herself against him. To her surprise, she heard Alan grunt from behind her before roughly grabbing her by the waist and turning her around to face him. Alan had some sentence prepared to tell her off for her obvious teasing, but as soon as she was facing him, he was speechless. Her body was inches away from his as his hands were still placed firmly on her hips. Without thinking, Alan pulled her closer to him, roughly kissing her neck. Evelyn gasped, dropping the papers, as her arms wrapped around his neck without a second thought. 

Five seconds. 

Five seconds of him gnawing at her skin as she dug her nails into his neck, running her fingers through his hair as he continued to try to pull her as close as possible to his body. A soft moan escaped her mouth as she felt his lips inch closer to her ear. 

Five seconds. 

Five seconds it took for them both to realize that this had to stop. Right, this instant. Both were reluctant to pull back before Evelyn finally managed to speak. 

"We have to stop. 

"I know." 

"This can't happen anymore."

"You're right." He growled before finally pulling away and taking a firm step back. His hair was dishevelled as Evelyn panted. Her breaths were becoming deeper and heavier as she continued to stare at him. Neither of them wanted to move. They were both desperate to pull each other close again. Alan knew that it was wrong. He broke a rule. And Evelyn was convinced that this was the stupidest thing that she had ever done. Gathering her thoughts, she bent over to pick up her phone, the pen and the papers that she dropped. Alan quickly bent over to help her, his mind still cloudy from what he just did. After they collected the papers. Evelyn nodded slightly before turning away and walking towards the doors. Alan watched as her heels clicked on the floor, desperate to follow her. 

"See you at dinner." He called out. 

Evelyn lightly chewed on her pencil as she sat at her dining room table. The red dress which she was wearing tightly hung to her hips as she stared at the wall. Her mind was a mess. She had no idea what she was going to do. There was no way that this _situation_ could continue. No way that she was willing to jeopardize this job, especially since she had nowhere else to go. Evelyn pondered on what she should do. _Maybe it'll just fizzle out_ , she contemplated. As she continued to think of a way to talk to Alan and settle this, her mind was suddenly filled with images of him moaning her name. Crossing her legs, she huffed, pushing the thoughts out... And miserably failing. Her body was beginning to heat up again as she waited for the cab that she ordered. 

Alan was in the back seat of his car. As the driver took a turn towards the restaurant, Alan tensed his jaw. He failed to understand what was wrong with him. He was always so careful, so meticulous and yet here he was, failing to get this woman out of his mind: her long hair, her sharp eyes and gorgeous legs. With every thought of her, he began to get madder and madder with himself. His new plan was to talk to her and politely renounce the situation to purely business. And of course, to stop flirting, as it was beginning to get out of control, which was obvious to him after failing to control himself in the conference room. He refused to allow himself to continue these antics as that was simply not something he did or wanted to do. Going over what he would say to her in his head, he finally noticed the restaurant's front door outside of the car window. 

As luck would have it, Evelyn pulled up to the restaurant at the same time as him. As she stepped out of the cab, she saw him. He was wearing a navy suit, with a crisp white shirt underneath. Smiling slightly, Evelyn observed him as he did the same. Alan was taken back by the deep red dress which tightly hugged her body. The heels she was wearing made her legs stretch for miles as she took a few steps towards him. Alan felt his chest tighten as he straightened his blazer. The two had similar objectives in mind, but would they stick to the promises they made themselves or inevitably end up where they started? 

"Right on time." Alan smiled as he greeted her. 

"As are you." 

This night will be interesting. 


	14. Not like this

As the two entered the restaurant, they were surprised to see how small it was. Evelyn had never been there, and the last time Alan set foot in Kai, it would have been almost ten years. It was an incredibly high-end Chinese restaurant. The first floor had a beautiful bar with some couches and comfortable chairs for people to lounge in. Dull lights illuminated the floor as Evelyn found it a little hard to see. The two were greeted by the hostess which quickly took their jackets and led them down a very narrow staircase. Alan gestured for Evelyn to go first, to which she obliged. As Evelyn took small steps down the dangerously narrow staircase, Alan couldn't help but lazily scan her body from behind as she kept walking. Forcing himself to look away, he focused on thinking about something else. Hoping that he won't drive himself to do something he would eventually regret. The two were led to a separate room where some people were already waiting for them. Jonathan and Frank were casually conversing with the writer in the far corner, as some of the actors mingled with each other. Evelyn wasn't completely sure what she was doing there or why she was even invited in the first place. Quickly becoming concerned with how out of place she was she desperately tried to spot a familiar face. There were 16 people present, all of which had lifestyles that Evelyn could never compete with. Noticing Oscar by an extravagant plant, Evelyn carefully grabbed him, pulling him closer. 

"Why the hell was I invited?" 

"What do you mean?" He whispered before flashing a smile to someone Evelyn couldn't even recognize. 

"For Christ's sake, Oscar, this is clearly a dinner for the main actors, the writers and the director. Why am I here?" She pressed. 

"Relax..." He gently squeezed her wrist. "The director asked me who we should invite, and I threw your name in-"

"Are you insane?!" 

"Oh, come on, he didn't even care. We needed an even amount of people for the booking, and I just couldn't allow you to pass up on an opportunity to be here." Oscar smirked. Evelyn sighed to herself, forcing a smile as someone looked at her. Of course, within seconds, Evelyn felt Alan's strong eyes burn through her. He was talking with the director. Loud, bellowing laughter fell from the two men as Evelyn's eyes locked with his. Alan proceeded to continue his sentence as he winked at her casually. Evelyn's eyes went wide as she quickly turned away, hoping her cheeks didn't have time to turn a vivid crimson red. She didn't remember the last time she felt like this, almost like a schoolgirl who's pigtails were being pulled by the boy she liked in front of the whole class. "Besides, if you weren't even a little bit curious as to how these people behaved outside of work, you never would have come in the first place." Oscar finished with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, that's definitely why I'm here..." Evelyn trailed off under her breath. 

"What did you say? I didn't hear you." 

"Oh, nothing." Evelyn waved her hand as she noticed people start to sit in their seats. "Come. I'm sure as hell not sitting next to someone I don't know." Evelyn continued to smile at some more people she didn't know as she walked over to a red velvet chair. The waiters were pulling back the chairs for all the women to sit. Even though that seemed a little outdated to her, she couldn't refuse to be a little pampered. She was also worried to look out of place as she noticed all the other women around the table patiently waiting for the chair to be pulled back. Just as she noticed a waiter take a step towards her, he suddenly abruptly stopped and turned away. But, Evelyn still heard the chair move. Confused, Evelyn had assumed that Oscar had pulled her chair back instead of the waiter. She was about to thank him as she began to sit down before hearing a familiar low voice behind her.

"May I?" Turning her head around as she sat, Evelyn saw Alan. Once more, she found herself inches away from his body. She nodded, thanking him with a smile, before turning to Oscar to strike up a conversation. Too afraid to speak to Alan in front of all these people, concerned that they might start asking questions. She had hoped that that small gesture was the end of it, and he would sit somewhere else, far, far away from her. "Enjoying yourself?" This time, she heard his voice barely an inch away from her ear. Firmly turning her head, she saw that he was now sitting directly next to her left. 

"Yes, you?" 

"Absolutely." Alan smiled before turning towards Ben, the actor which would eventually play Jean-Baptiste. _How can he be so calm?_ Evelyn wondered. Before she could analyze the situation more, she heard someone lightly tapping their glass. The director was making a speech. 

"Welcome, everyone. I hope you all enjoy the food, thank you so much Oscar for organizing such a lavish dinner. I requested for him to organize this as I wanted to have one last night of _pleasure-"_ some of the people around the table laughed as he continued. _" -_ before we finally begin filming. Especially since this production had been delayed for months, I'm finally happy to announce that we will start shooting in two weeks. Enjoy everybody!" He clapped softly as everyone followed him. 

The first twenty minutes of the dinner were quite calm for Evelyn. No one tried to make conversation with her which was fine as nobody really knew who she was. Eating her starter in peace, she casually sipped on her wine as she listened to the conversations going on around her. Just as she was cutting through a duck spring roll, she felt a soft touch on her ankle. Jerking her head to the side, she noticed that Alan was leaning over to pick up his napkin, which seemingly fell on the carpeted floor. Ignoring it, hoping this was but a simple accident, she continued to cut through her spring roll. As she listened to the writer vividly describe his creative process, she felt another faint touch on her calf. The fleeting touch of his finger dragged up her leg as she suddenly got goosebumps. Innocently, she looked down to see Alan gently caressing her leg as he raised back up to the table. Taking in a few deep breaths, she felt him continue to softly drag his finger over her thigh under the table. Evelyn's breathing hitched in her throat as the man continued to shamelessly caress her whilst no one was watching. Stealing a quick glance at him, she noticed that he was keeping up a very engaging conversation with Dustin and Ben whilst continuing to hold his hand firmly by her. Placing her fork down, she moved her hand under the table to swat him away, but as soon as her hand met with his, she couldn't bring herself to push him away. Instead, against all odds, she found herself dragging her own fingers over his hand. Tracing every finger on his hand, softly dragging from the tips of his fingers to his wrist and back. Alan turned his hand upwards, beginning to twist the rings on her fingers. Evelyn's body was becoming hot, as was Alan's. Within seconds their soft-touch became stronger as Alan gently began to squeeze her palm with his thumb, massaging her hand under the table. Evelyn wanted with all her might to pull back, but instead, she moved closer to him.

"Evelyn?" At the sound of her name, Evelyn quickly turned her head towards Dustin, smiling as if nothing was happening. Alan quickly pulled his hand away, pretending to fix his napkin as he picked up his fork.

"Yes?"

"What about you?" 

"I'm sorry?" 

"Oh, Forgive me, we were talking about guilty pleasures, what is yours?" Evelyn felt herself becoming red at the words _guilty_ and _pleasure_ being placed together like that. 

"Could you elaborate, please?" Smiling, she put on a confident facade as she sipped her red wine. 

"Music, movies, anything! What's yours?" Evelyn didn't have to think long as she knew exactly what she would say. 

"Musicals." She announced as Dustin lazily swayed his head to the side with a smile.

"Tell me more...What's your favourite?" He beckoned, taking a sip of his drink. 

"Moulin Rouge." The left side of the room erupted with complements and gushing as everyone seemed to admire the movie as much as she did. Evelyn smiled, content with her answer. 

"I didn't know you liked musicals?" Alan added. Evelyn suddenly felt panicked. _What the hell is he doing?_ Evelyn quickly noticed as Dustin looked at Alan, visibly confused, as the comment clearly indicated that the two had possibly met before. Alan quickly swallowed his food, edging to continue. "I just mean...you seem more of a _Kill Bill_...or a _28 Days Later_ type to me?" He proclaimed, squinting his eyes at her a little. Evelyn raised her eyebrows. She put all her might into not showing the true expression on her face. As unfortunately, the only thing she could think about now was the first night they slept together in her bed. _Honestly, what the fuck is he doing?_ _Winding me up?_

"Ah, don't listen to him. Alan's always been a bad judge of character!" laughed Dustin. Evelyn politely chuckled in return before continuing to eat her food. As Alan observed her from time to time, he made sure to hold his leg close enough to hers so that the two were occasionally touching. Evelyn ignored his motions but never pulled away.

As the dinner continued, Evelyn once more managed to fly under the radar as everyone was finishing their mains and ordering dessert. Evelyn was captivated by an intense conversation between Oscar and the director. The two were politely arguing about the cinematography regarding the first murder scene within the production. Evelyn was fully immersed in the conversation when she felt Alan's body lean into hers. She noticed as he tried to get closer and closer to her, leaning his left elbow on the table to prop his head up, intently listening to Oscars argument. Evelyn huffed as she proceeded to ignore it. At that moment, Alan's hand gently dropped under the table again, landing directly on her bare thigh. Evelyn flinched a little bit looking down to make sure she wasn't mistaken. His hand was now gripping her thigh. Squeezing it from time to time. Evelyn exchanged looks with him as he nonchalantly smiled, holding firm eye contact with the director as he continued speaking. Evelyn leaned on the table, similarly propping up her head with her folded hands. As the conversation continued, Alan's hand began to slowly creep up Evelyn's leg. Oscar was now asking for Evelyn's input on the subject as she proceeded to discuss both sides of the argument, feeling Alan's hand creep up higher and higher up her thigh. Eventually, his hand made it an inch away from her thong. He proceeded to gently massage her leg under her dress as she continued to talk. When she was done with her points, Oscar praised her for her detailed analysis as she nodded. Evelyn was digging one of her heels into the ground as not to gasp from Alan's touch. But as his grip became tighter, she finally caved and exhaled a deep but inaudible breath, which caught Oscars attention. 

"You okay?" As Oscar turned towards her, Alan gave her one last reassuring squeeze before carefully removing his hand. 

"Yes. Of course. Just a little tired from all the work." Oscar offered her a warm smile before pouring her a little bit more wine. 

As the night was coming to a close, Evelyn was becoming frustrated, as was Alan. Every few minutes, either of them would sneakily drift towards each other, whether it was her hand gently placed on his for a mere second as she reached for her glass... Or his fingers momentarily gliding over her shoulder as he would reach around her to speak to Oscar. When the dinner got moved upstairs to the bar, Alan would constantly find excuses to gently touch Evelyn on her lower back politely moving her out of his way, or Evelyn would carefully place her hand on his shoulder for support as she would get off the tall bar chair. 

Both of them were visibly annoyed with themselves. Mere hours ago, they both promised to avoid each other at all costs. Yet here they were, failing to keep their hands off each other even for a minute. To their luck, everyone seemed completely oblivious. Everyone except them by now thoroughly drunk. Both Alan and Evelyn were too afraid to drink as they both knew what would inevitably happen if they did. All barriers would fall, and they would either end up leaving together or doing something inappropriate. As everyone began to leave, Evelyn, Alan and Frank seemed to be the last ones standing. The three were sitting at a low table on comfortable leather armchairs. Evelyn sat across from Frank whilst Alan sat to her left once more at the other end of the small table. His foot constantly finding it's way to hers. 

"How are you getting home?" Frank asked Evelyn.

"Cab."

"Would you like me to call one for you?" Frank sat up as he waved for the bill. 

"Oh no, please don't worry. It's Mayfair. I'll go enjoy the fresh air and wave one down."

"As you wish-" Frank smiled at her as he signed the bill. "I'll see you on Monday. Alan." Frank waved the two goodbye, as he grabbed his jacket and left the bar, hopping into his chauffeured car. Evelyn leaned back in her seat, finally releasing the tense energy she had kept inside her all night. 

"What's wrong?" Alan's deep voice interrupted her relaxed state. 

"Nothing." Shaking her head, Evelyn braced herself to get up. Alan gently grabbed her hand, pulling her back down towards the seat. 

"Where do you think you're going?" He added with a smile. His body was completely relaxed from some of the alcohol and finally being alone with her. He wanted her to stay, badly.

"I can't stay, Alan."

"Why not?" Reaching out his hand towards her, he began to gently drag it across her forearm as she sighed, leaning back in her chair once more. Evelyn was clearly enjoying herself. His touch was making her feel calm. If before he was igniting somewhat of a fire in her, now she was too tired for that. And somehow having him close seemed to relax her. She wanted to stay quiet, to let him continue, but unfortunately, she had to say something. 

"We can't keep doing this."

"Hm?" Alan hummed in response. 

"We can't do this anymore. Not like this." After the words escaped her mouth, There was a sudden deafening silence. No matter how much Alan wanted her to be wrong, she was right. His hand paused in its movements. Clenching his fist, he hesitantly pulled his hand away from her. 

"You're right." 

"I know. We had an agreement, remember?" 

"I do." Running his finger over his mouth, he stayed silent, looking away from her, observing the bar. The words that were coming out of her mouth were stern and honest, but he could clearly tell that she was practically begging to be closer to him. The worst part was that he wasn't much different. No matter how laid back and relaxed he looked, the only thing he truly wanted to do was to throw her over his shoulder and take her to his car...Or to simply sit her in his seat and listen to her tell him more about Moulin Rouge...He wasn't sure anymore. The two proceeded to stare at each other without saying a single word. Both as if reading each other's minds. After a few minutes and finishing her drink, Evelyn firmly got up and went to grab her jacket from the cloakroom. Alan watched as she pushed the restaurant's glass doors and stepped out into the cold London air. His eyes were glued to her as he watched her wave down the nearest cab. Evelyn looked back to check if he was maybe still looking at her. Sure enough, Alan was watching her leave through the dimly lit glass window of the bar with a glass in his hand. 

'Not like this.' He replayed her words in his mind.

_Not like this._


End file.
